2008 Capitol 10k

Today was the annual Capitol 10k. I missed the race last year, but can't remember why. I was supposed to leave for Europe today, but my trip got canceled so I got to race this year after all. My training has been sporadic at best so I had no idea what to expect today. It definitely wasn't PR weather with warm and humid conditions. I met the gang at RunTex at about 7:30 and then we did about a mile on the trail. We did some drills in the parking lot at Auditorium Shores and headed to the start. I lined up with Brian, Anne, Marcy, and Rachel. They were talking about paces that I didn't think I could do. There was a brief rain shower which cooled things off and then the gun went off. I shot out pretty fast and was thinking they are all going to pass me. I was able to go pretty quick out of the blue corral and didn't hit too much traffic. The Congress section wasn't too bad and I did the first mile in 7:27. The next couple of miles were the climbs. The first section on 15th wasn't too bad, but doing downhill and towards Lamar was very slick. I had to slow to make sure I didn't fall on my butt in that section. The climb up toward Mopac wasn't too bad. I covered miles 2 and 3 in 7:33 and 7:40. The climb up to the Meriden cutoff wasn't too bad and then we had a nice downhill piece to pick it up. I was starting to tire at that point and it became a mental race for me. I was just pushing and telling myself not to quit. I did mile 4 in 7:10 and mile 5 in 7:17. I was dead tired with 1.2 miles to go and the uphill on Cesar Chavez ahead of me. I broke the remaining distance into 400s and counted down. I slowed to a 7:24 for mile 6 and then kicked it up over the last .2 miles at a 6:30 pace. I ended up with a 46:03 which is 1:32 off my course PR from 2005. I haven't been mentally strong in a race since the debacle at Chicago last fall so it was nice to battle mental demons and win! Given my training and the weather I am really happy. I finished ahead of my training buds and even beat Wish by 6 seconds!

Stats - 6.2 miles/46:03/7:25 pace
AHR - 166
MHR - 179

Finish -
Overall - 453/6567
40-44 Age Group - 65/448

Mileage for the Day - 7.53