In an effort to motivate myself to start working on in the new year, I registered for the 2017 Capitol 10K in December of 2016. Fast forward to April 22nd, 2017… not a lot of progress towards the ol’ new years resolution, but still those 6.2 miles to run.
I decided just to do it anyway. I figured I’d run/walk, take some pictures, and just enjoy the race (which is an absolute blast, if you’ve never done it). I started jogging and at mile 3, I thought to myself, I think I could do this! I was able to get into a nice, focused groove and jogged myself all the way to the finish line. My pace was super slow, but never a walk! I finished the race in 1:14:30 (I started my RunKeeper when we started walking to the starting line, which is why it’s a little off).
I was pretty proud of myself! I couldn’t believe I was able to keep jogging for 6.2 miles without any training. I think this is something I’ll do every year, just for kicks 🙂
I first ran the Capitol 10K in 2015 and I have some new tips, based on what I noticed was different between this year and that year:
1. I got to the race area a little before 7am. My dad and I pulled right into the Long Center, paid $8 to park, and were walking to the corrals in a matter of minutes. I’m not sure why there was SO MUCH traffic in 2015. The only thing I could think of was that I must have showed up later that year. 7am will be my new regular arrival time (my race start time was 8:15am).
2. There are a million port-o-potties just to the east of the corrals. I actually went twice before the race and waited maybe a total of 7 minutes. Again, I’m not sure why the lines were SO LONG in 2015. Maybe there were more restrooms this year?
Overall, my race day was super smooth. Thank you to everyone who helped put the race together and volunteered the day of. I didn’t have one single issue!
