Statesman Capitol 10,000 - Run10k

When I registered I put my estimated finish time as 1 hour and my hubby's time as 1:02. Turns out the cut off for the grouping was right at 1 hour, so we were in different groups to start. As best I could gather from talking to people the timed groups were: A (fast) B (45-55min) C (55-60min) D & E (anything over 60 mins - at check in you could pick D or E, but could not be moved up a class). The rules stated you would be DQed if you started in a group above yours, but you could run in a lower group. That being said, LOTS of people were starting in groups above theirs.

Now on to the race. I had a plan to start off with the first 3 miles around 10min/mile pace, knowing there were hills in this part. My goal was to finish in an hour, so I thought I'd hopefully pick up my pace the last half. But, my plan was out the window as soon as I started! There were 23,000 people (10,000 timed) at the race and the energy of that made it hard for me to start off at a conservative pace - so I just went for it. My first mile was around 9:30 and my second was around 9:20 (with the hills!) and then I lost track of my splits, but think mile 6 was my slowest. I happened to start the race next to a guy who kept checking his garmin. I figured this meant he was really watching his pace, so I ran with him the first mile. I realized he was going a little faster than I planned, but liked the idea of being able to pace off of someone. I figured I'd just stay with him as long as I could and if he started to negative split I would just let him go. Well, I was able to hang with him for 6.1 of the miles! I found him after the race and thanked him for helping me get through my first 10K. He said his garmin ran out of batteries the last mile, so he actually just paced off of me - I would guess this was why the last mile seemed a little slower!

There were a number of people out cheering the runners on and handing out free beer, donuts, and bacon along the course. I made it through the finish line area and headed back around in time to watch my husband finish his first race!!

I would have hurried through the food lines and tried to make it to my car faster. We made it to our car around 11am and it took us 30 minutes to go 1/2 mile to get out of the area - it was the only time it really felt like a huge race.

Went and got loads of drinks, bananas, bars, chips and took some pictures before heading out.


It was warm! The race started at 9AM and the sun was out! I dumped a cup of water on my head at 8 of the 11 water stops and that helped a lot. I ran with water, but ran out by mile 5. Lots of people needing medical assistance. :(


It's a good race if you like running with a lot of people!