I'm not been an avid runner but recently I've ran two 10k races and have enjoyed the sense of accomplishment. My second 10k race was the ORRC Y2K9 on January 4, 2009.
The results were posted almost immediately and I finished in 58:05 which is over a minute and a half faster than my first 10k on Thanksgiving. I'm quite happy that I improved and my Garmin details show that I achieved my goal of a negative split running faster each mile through the course.
The parking lot was slippery so I worried about the ice during the run, but largely it wasn't a factor except for a few obvious places. The race itself seemed reasonably well organized although there were many fewer participants than my Thanksgiving run which may be why there seemed to be many fewer volunteers. The first water station wasn't until mile 4 - which was odd - and I was glad I had my own water with me. The end of the course is a steep hill which was really hard, but I kept on the run (even if really slow) and passed a last runner before the dash to the finish.
I enjoyed running with my sister, Marjorie, for the first time. Now that she's moved to Portland maybe we'll do this more. We had fun sharing the pre-race experience of two not-very-experienced racers and ran together the first few miles.
The days after the race my legs are more sore than my first race on Thanksgiving, feeling especially sore in new places that I attribute to running faster and maybe that last hill. I ran again with one day rest and still don't feel totally recovered, and probably need to work on stretching more.
When's the next race?