Another Cap10K is in the books! Over 15,000 people took to the streets to take on a pretty tough 6.2 mile course through downtown Austin. For me it was my 3rd go at it. Last year I ran for my company’s corporate team en route to a PR. This year, with Boston NEXT WEEK, I chose to take it a little easier. But things don’t always go the way you choose.

The morning started off a little frenzied. I woke up at 6:10am at the behest of my alarm. I promptly went back to sleep. So when I woke up again at 7:17am, I all but leapt out of bed tripping over myself to get going. You see, the race started at 8am, it’s 4 miles from my house, and I had already planned to run down to the starting line. Many years from now, when grandparents are telling their grandchildren of this heroic day, some may call getting from my bed to out to door in 11 minutes a miracle. At 7:28am I was on the move to get downtown. And as if I had planned it, I ended up arriving approximately 90 seconds after the starting gun and joined the masses walking toward the line.

With a 4.25 mile warm up behind me and the largest 10K in Texas ahead, I tried to regroup enough to make a gameplan. Setting a new personal best was out of the question, so keeping a strong, steady pace throughout the race sounded reasonable. The first 3 miles don’t do you any favors for going fast–lots of turns, big hills, crowded streets. By the time I hit the first mile in 7:27, I thought I was doing a good job sticking to my plan. That didn’t last long.

Since I started further back than normal, there was lots of bobbing and weaving around other runners. Quick PSA: if you enter a race and intend to walk it from start to finish, good for you. How.Ever. please do NOT line up in front of the thousands of other people who are going to be forced to run around you! Not cool.

As we pressed forward, the crowds thinned a little, which apparently signaled to my legs to go faster. Mile 2 came and went in 7:08. Still not too fast, but really, what’s the hurry?

With each mile marker I went a little faster than the one before. Mile 3, which thankfully marks the end of the brutal hills, took a mere 6:58. The fourth mile, during which I recognized and passed a fellow coworker, clocked in at 6:50. My legs were doing what they wanted and I had no say in the matter. Mile 5, which I actually thought could be a little slower, took 6:44. If nothing else, at least the race was almost over and my lack of pace control episode was nearing an end. Mile 6 flew by in 6:30. Granted I was a little upset that I got passed around Mile 5 and had to track this guy down. In order to do so, for the last .2 miles, I averaged a 5:45 pace.

My final time added up to 43:21, making it an average pace of 6:59 min/mile. Certainly not a PR (39:45) but faster (read: harder) than I wanted. To cool down, I walked the finishing area for a couple of minutes before gearing back up for the 4 mile run back home. It actually wasn’t too bad, and rounded out my day near 15 miles. Not a bad way to taper for next week’s BOSTON MARATHON!

Also, big props to the National Instruments corporate team! They won, for the 9th year in a row, this time by 29 minutes over second place! Congrats guys!