Andrews Family

I got the itch to run a race earlier this year and using my better judgement (which rarely happens) I passed on the half marathon, which I wouldn’t have had enough time to get ready for. Instead I picked the 30th annual Capitol 10,000 which gave me a month and a half to get ready for it and their mascot is a cute little armadillo which Livy likes. There was also a ‘run club’ starting at the fitness center at work to train just for the the ‘Cap 10K’.

The race was this past Sunday morning and it was full of excitement with 16,082 runners. Jenny and Livy got up early and gave me a ride down to the start. Since they were dropping me off and it was early for Livy we didn’t go really early. The runners were supposed to be grouped by speed with joggers, walker, and strollers in the back of the pack but that plan didn’t really happen. By the time I got there the staging area was packed and there was no choice to but to start at the back of the pack behind about 10,000+ people. It was pretty amazing to see the race start and slowly walk up to the starting line as the mass of people squeezed down to fit through the starting gate. It took me over 4 minutes before I got to the start line. Because  the starting gate squeezed the crowd down and then opened up to the wide street there was actually a little room to run, but not much with the crowd.

The course was around downtown Austin starting on the Congress Street bridge (where the bats live) looping up around the Capitol. The first half of the course was uphill and hilly with the second half being downhill and flat. (Course map with elevation) Since this was my first 10K, let alone the first race I’ve ran in 14 years, I was planning on trying to pace myself for the first half and then see how hard I could push it the second half. That plan went out the window when I crossed the starting line and began slashing through the mob. I could tell I was running faster than I had planned but I felt good so I went with it. I actually missed the first two mile markers because of the crowd so I didn’t know what my split times were. At about 2.5 into the course on the biggest hill, Jenny and Olivia were camped out waiting to cheer me on. Luckily I picked the side of the road that they were on. Livy was pretty cute sitting there chomping powdered donuts. They had a good time watching everyone including the people who wore silly costumes. I had joked and offered to run in an Easter Bunny suit but I take that back now. It’d be tough. Here’s some video Jenny took at that spot which might give you an idea of just how crowded it was (and that’s after 2.5 miles!).

There were still 3.5 miles to go after that but the big hills thinned out the pack enough that you didn’t have to constantly dart around people anymore. The last two miles seemed a little tough just because they were flat. So how did I finish? Well, I had figured that 55 minutes was a reasonable goal and that best case maybe 53. Maybe it was adrenaline, or maybe the energy ‘goo’ pack that I ate right before the race (which tasted horrible) but I ended up finishing in a time of 50:30. That is a pace of 8:08/mile. Needless to say I had a great race. Before I started training that would have been a good time for me for one mile let alone over six. Next time I’ll probably try to start a little further up in the pack, but it was a fun challenge to fight the mob and made it seem like you were running that much faster.

Just so you don’t think I’m getting a big head over my personal record time here are a few quick facts. The fastest times were 29:42 in the Men (4:47 per mile), and 35:28 in the Women (5:43 per mile). 14 men over 60 beat my time. 10 women over 50 beat my time. The oldest finisher was 96. And pictures of people running a 10K always make them look goofy, even if they aren’t wearing a costume which is why I went with the post-race shot.