Today marked the 35th anniversary of the Capitol 10,000, affectionately known as the “Cap 10K.” This annual race is the largest 10K in Texas and the fifth largest in the US. The announcer said that over 23,000 participated in this morning’s race, although some web sites are putting the number closer to 25,000. Bill has run in this race for several years now but today was only my second Cap 10K.
We delayed leaving our apartment to take pictures of the crowd, so the national anthem was already in progress as we made our way across the Congress Avenue Bridge. The starting area was jammed but we eventually squeezed into the mob and slowly shuffled up to the starting line, passing it about ten minutes after the race had begun.
The race course made a giant loop around downtown Austin and ended at Auditorium Shores. Much of the course was flat except for a few small hills. Bands played along the way and many bystanders cheered us on. Participants were encouraged to wear costumes and some did; ballet tutus and superheroes seemed to be most popular. Two roadside groups handed out small cups of beer and another gave out bacon samples for some reason.
Scott MacPherson was the men’s winner, finishing in 29:50. Kara June won for the women with a time of 35:02.
Here is my second favorite section of the race course: looking down 15th street towards the Lamar Street overpass.
And my favorite part of the race? The finish line, of course!
HI Janis! I work for the Statesman Cap 10K, and we were wondering if we could use your awesome finish line photo (the last one in this blog post) to post on our official Cap 10K Facebook page. Please send me an email at cap10k (at) statesman.com to confirm!
Thank you in advance!
Cap 10K staff
Thanks for asking! I sent you a separate email, granting permission.