sub-3 or blow-up trying

Ran a frustrating road race, but will just treat it as a training run.  There was a night time 5k/10k race that was close to home and had the distance I was looking for.  Was a little nervous when my name was not with the 10k folks...they were cooperative and switched me from 5k to 10k without trouble.  Then when I began asking volunteers about the course, I was receiving mixed reponse on questions as simple as where's the starting line.  When I saw a few serious runners with headlamps, I realized maybe I could get lost on the course.  An organizer assured me that there would be like 75 volunteers in place that would make it impossible to get lost.  Lined up and felt it would be important to stick with a group who seemed to know where they were going.

First 5k went fairly smoothly...my watch said 6:22 for mile 1 and 6:32 for mile 2...the neighborhoods were dark, volunteers were definitely alongside the course, and I stuck with a group of 4 that seemed near my age.  As we reached the 3-mile marker, all 4 runners that I was with peeled to the right to finish a 5k...I was told to go straight around the buses.  As I rounded the buses, someone yelled for me to turn back, I had gone too far...I quickly got back on course and started loop 2 on the same 5k course.  From this point to the end, I never saw another 10k runner.

On my second loop, I noticed at each turning point there were volunteers on both sides of the road, so I'd yell "10ker!" and they'd all wave and then I'd go "Right or left" and would have to pause to hear a response before turning.  After a mile and a half of this, I caught the 5k stragglers and would have to work hard (in the dark) to get the attention of "course guides" to tell me which way to turn.  Got off track maybe 3-4 times and then notice my watch beep 6 miles well before the finish line.  Was shocked to see my time at 43:56, but then looked down to see that my watch said 6:45 miles.  Not sure what my splits were after mile 2, but I felt I was keeping 6:35-40 pace and then just slowing down at each corner to figure out where to go next.  I've plugged 6:45 into the running calculator to get a better since of pace for the sake of adding to my training log.  Was also surprised to find out I was 4th overall.  Probably alot more "fun run" type people who really enjoyed the race, so tried to keep it positive and will probably not return.  At least I got a good training run in.