Rocky Mountain Road Runners 10k along the Platte River trail in Thornton / Commerce City.
I decided to do this -- as a training run rather than a race -- because (a) my assignment (for yesterday) was "5-mile run, comfortable and fun", (b) it was only ~25 minutes away, (c) it only cost $10, and (d) I need structure to avoid letting the whole day go to waste...
Weather was sunny but cold (30s) and breezy. And...I realized about five minutes from the race location that I had forgotten my race bag. ARGH! So I was missing: gloves, ear warmer, visor, a few other odds and ends, and -- HORROR! -- my Garmin watch.
I briefly considered just going home and skipping the race, but then I realized I could do without my visor and ear warmer, even though I had not put sunscreen on my forehead; I could pull my sleeves over my hands as "gloves"; and I could use my phone for tracking -- but it would be in my pocket the whole time, not easy to glance at for pace, distance, etc.
I had to just run by feel since I didn't have my watch / crutch to glance at every ~30 seconds. Also, I tried my friend Monica's approach of walking for one minute of each mile (that minute of rest goes by really fast!).
I was trying to NOT race, just go at a comfortable pace, and I ended up with a 10:00 pace overall. (I had guesstimated 10:15 pace for the handicapped start.)
Fun...and a more scenic route than I would have expected for this semi-industrial area.