Week 1-Capitol 10,000

Today I participated in a 34 year Austin tradition:  The Capitol 10K race.  Make no mistake, I did not race.  But I did run more than I had planned to run (which was 0K).

The day started cool (58 degrees), overcast, and early.  I left my house in north Austin at 7:30.  I arrived at the south Austin race site at probably 8:15 after sitting in traffic and parking at least 10K away from the actual starting line.

First item on my agenda:  go to the bathroom.  You know, I was hydrating already, and you want to be sure to take care of your business before they fire the "GO!" signal.  Unfortunately, of the 22,000 participants in today's race, 11,000 of them all had the same item 1 on their agenda.  Here we are in line:

The photo really doesn't do justice to the magnitude of people who had to go, but you get the idea.  

By them time I had worked my way through the porta-potty meelee, the race had already officially started.  This was not a problem, though, because when 22,000 people have to cross a starting line it's going to take a minute.  Or 10.  That's about how long it took me, anyway.

I have to say, in the first few 100 steps or so I was having second thoughts about the "fun" factor of this whole adventure.  I am not a fan of people in general, and 22,000 of them all crammed in together is worse.  Even worse:  attempting to hustle-walk in between and around 21,999 other individuals.  I had to break into a jog just to find a good position.  But once I found my groove I have to say I had a great time!  The route was interesting, the people watching was fantastic, and it is really liberating to be able to walk/jog straight down the middle of the street in downtown Austin.


A highlight of the race was suddenly hearing the call, "left, left, left right..." and realizing that Squadron 20 from Texas A&M was coming up behind you.

This is actually a photo of me behind them, which is how the whole encounter ended up.  The outfit comes up from College Station and runs the 10K in formation.  There was also a large group of APD officers also running in formation.  That was extremely cool, and it's hard not to fall in step with these groups.


Overall it was a excellent experience, and one I am very proud to have participated in.  Even though my finish time (1:20) was 4 times longer than the actual race winner's time (29.58), I had no problem finishing, and my time was even faster than any of the few training sessions I had set up for myself prior to the race.


And now there are only 9 weeks left until "Every Day is Saturday"!  That's exciting!  We're in the single digits now.  


Up next:  Lone Star Round Up.  I'll report back to you.
 

Ten Weeks

I have 10 weeks until school is out for this year. Ten weeks until I can experience what I like to call "Every Day is Saturday". It is what every school aged child and worn out teacher starts looking forward to in...August.

It is a sad state of affairs that one starts to count down the number of days left in one's job until one is freed from the responsibilities of said job. I guess everyone does that. We all look forward to weekends, days off, vacations, etc. But shouldn't we enjoy what we do? It seems counter-intuitive to have a job, a place where you spend the majority of your time, that you can't wait to get away from.

Then I find myself trapped in this whole American phenomena of "wishing your days away". "I wish it were Friday." "I can't wait until next weekend!" "How many days until June?"   This can't be healthy. Is my life really going to start in 10 weeks?  And if so, what the hell is going on right now?  It seems like I'm missing some perfectly good living while I'm pining away for June 1.

In light of all this contemplation I have decided to make the next ten weeks exciting for me just all by their little ole selves. I will do something special every week for the next 10 weeks. Furthermore, I'm going to put a local spin on my plan by experiencing a bit of Austin I've never experienced before with each weekly adventure.

First up: The Capitol 10K on Sunday, March 27  http://www.statesman.com/cap10k/. I have been curious about participating in a 10K for a while now, and the Capitol 10K, as far as I can tell, is a great place to start. Here are some details from the website:

The Statesman Capitol 10,000 is the largest 10K in Texas and the fifth largest in the nation. In its 34th year, the Capitol 10,000 attracts the silly to the serious and has become an annual rite of spring in Austin, Texas. Bring the whole family to this fun, festive event. Walk it, jog it or run it, just don't miss it!

I certainly have no designs on running anywhere, much less 10 kilometers of anywhere.  But I am planning on walking it (possibly a jog or two mixed in?  Who can tell...), and I am looking forward to witnessing the silly.  To be sure, I have no place among serious runners.  But it is somehow apropos to start off my next ten weeks running, don't you think?  Ok, walking.  Briskly.

I'll report back to you.