Sounds like in all you still had a great weekend. Top 10 in such a large field is nothing to sniff at!
I finally did my first cross race this Sunday. I'm such a big chicken and after I did it someone told me that it is one of the more technical on the calendar...... it had a big, steep, (well at least it looked big and steep when you were staring down it) down hill on single track, that ended in a left hand turn that you had to either stop or make it or else crash into a tree! What everyone told me was soooo true. Roadies like me could kill on the straight sections and the mt bikers/crossers would do great on the technical ones. I played leapfrog with a few people for most of the race I'd fly past them on straights (and unfortunately on the run ups... which would put me ahead to go back down) and then they'd have to find a way around me as I panicked trying to go down the nasty sandy hill. The off camber stuff, which I was a bit worried about, wasn't too much of a bother. Dinky bike performs pretty well - I can still go fast enough on the road/track/flats and it flies uphill - when other people are struggling I can spin up almost anything as long as it isn't loose. I certainly won't make any claims to have done well, but I survived and did not crash during the race (I did warming up!), though I got stuck behind a crash in the second lap. I liked it enough that I'll do some more, though I can't see myself getting too serious about it. I like road too much. I do think that I'll get some bike handling benefits out of it.
My husband took a little video (me, one of my teammates and one of his teammates)
http://www.youtube.com/OneToGoCycling