Capital 10K Race Report

So I was hoping to get to the general area near the race early enough to score one of the coveted free parking spots.  However, I wanted 30 minutes more sleep when the alarm went off this morning so I didn’t get free parking.  That’s fine…next year I know to leave earlier.  When I parked, it was still an hour until the start time, so I sat in my car and listened to music for 30 minutes.  Then I ate my Clif Bar (coconut chocolate chip…yum!) and started putting my stuff together.  I rubbed some icy-hot like stuff on my lower back where the muscle spasm has been and pinned on my bib.  Then I headed over toward the start line…made a brief stop at the porta potty and then stood in the crowd.  They didn’t fire off a gun or a loud horn, they just had a radio announcer guy yell out “runners on your mark!  Get ready!  Go!” and then they were off.  It took about 11 minutes for me to make it to the start line from where I had been waiting.  I was able to get my Garmin started and I was off.  In the pre-race reports that they emailed out over the last couple weeks told us that the first 5K of the race was hilly.  The first 2 hills were nothing to me.  Didn’t faze me at all…well, maybe not at all, but definitely didn’t slow me down.  So, those first 2 hills got me thinking that the hills were going to be relatively easy.  Oh boy.  On the 3^rd and 4^th hills, wow.  They were longer, so therefore they took more out of me.  I had been running along at a 10:30-10:45 pace and the 3^rd and 4^th hills slowed me down to about an 11:00 pace.  Not a whole lot, but more than the first 2 hills had done.  I was able to keep up a good pace for the whole race and finished in 1:06:52 (official time).  That’s a 10:47 overall pace.  Very good.  

I had set a goal of not exceeding an 11:00 pace overall and I did it.  Sure that’s not the fastest I’ve ever ran a 10K distance (the very first time I ran that distance I did it in 62 minutes…that’s a 10:00 pace).  I think it was very cool that as I hit the 5K halfway mark they sent me an email with my split time (33 minutes) and then when I finished, they sent me an email with my 10K time!  I forwarded the final email to my mom and grandma.

As I was crossing the finish line, they were playing music and announcing some people’s names (not sure why, they just were).  Guess what music was playing the moment I crossed the finish line.  That’s right:: Eye Of The Tiger!  Yeah baby!  I just thought that was too funny and, frankly, quite fitting for my own personal journey in my running career.  I’ve come a long way since mid-October when I started running and I am very proud of myself for all that I’ve accomplished since then.

I made my way around to the post-race festival area.  There were free samples of sunscreen (grabbed a few) and free single use samples of this stuff called Max Freeze (it’s like icy-hot…grabbed a bunch of those).  Then I made my way around to the food area (HEB was a sponser and they were handing out free granola bars, house branded Gatorade and bananas…for those of you not from central and south Texas, HEB is a local chain grocery store).  I scored a couple granola bars, a “Gatorade” and a banana.  

I had bought a new water bottle yesterday at the Expo where I picked up my race packet.  It’s the kind where you squeeze the water into your mouth.  I really like that part, makes drinking on the go so much easier.  The part of it I’m not too sure about yet is the neoprene harness and handle for it.  It’s great for carrying my ID and keys in, and it will be great for carrying energy gels and chews with me on my longer runs. but my hand gets really sweaty.  It may have just been because today was so humid.  I’m going to run with it a few more times and see if I like it any better.

They had a finisher photo area.  I asked a really nice lady to take my picture with my phone, which she did.  Love it.  I had fun with it (as you can see).  I can’t wait for my next race.  This was so much fun.  I just wish I had a friend to run the races with, that would make it so much more fun, especially the post-race stuff.

I hung around and watched people finishing for a little bit, then I made my way back to my car and went home to shower…cuz I was a little funky.  Hahahaha!