Don Zetnick's Winter Run

Don and I ran in the Don Zetnick Winter Run 10K on the UTA (University of Texas - Arlington) campus this morning. Despite cloudy skies and a raindrop or two, no downpour ensued. In fact, the weather was very nice for running - cool, but not too cold; no sun = no sunscreen needed.

The race itself was decent but could have been better. First, the not so good: the 10K race started over 30 minutes late! - 9:46 AM vs. the scheduled 9:15. We were at the starting line around 9:00 so we waited over 45 minutes before the gun. Also, the course only had ONE water stop (that was hit twice on the nearly out-and-back route).

On the plus side, the UTA campus had plenty of parking and the Maverick Activities Center had a lot of room for registration and the awards & door prize activities. The trophies were pretty neat - miniature penguins (the 1K kids' race was called the "Penguin Waddle"). Decent pre-race (bagels & coffee) and post-race (pizza, bananas, sodas, Smart Water) refreshments.

As for my running, I did pretty well and got my first sub-50-minute 10K since my college running days. I ran pretty hard so my heart rate, as expected ,was quite high - an average of 175 BPM for the entire 10K but closer to a 181 BPM average for the second half of the race. I finished the 6.2 miles in 49:20 for a 7:57/mi pace, which is about a minute faster than the Run Off at the Ranch 10K last month.

My goal of a sub-8:00/mi for a 10K has been met!