Cap10k 2016

Photo Credit: Olivia Anderson 

Costumes are a big deal at the Cap10k. This year there were six costume contest categories: spirit of Texas, armadillo, hero, centipede, trail wild things, and best of show. Each category had a prize for the winner and participants could enter by using the hashtag for the category that they were a part of.

Runners during the first stretch of the race heading towards the State Capitol on Congress Ave. 

James Eastland pushed a homemade train carrying his two kids for the entire race. He has been running the Cap10k with his family for six years.

“This is the first time we’ve done the train,” Eastland said. “The first 2 miles were a little tough with the hills and the kids, but it was good.”

Eastland’s wife Winter usually pushes the baby jogger while he runs the 10k, but this year he decided to push a train.

“My wife is 7 months pregnant,” said Eastland. “I said I would push the kids the entire way, so I built a train.”

Eastland plans to push the train again next year, after making a few modifications.

While many runners were trying to beat their best time, others simply had a goal of finishing the race. Sonja Jimenez, 45, walked the 6.2 miles while her son ran.

“I had surgery last week, so I’m not allowed to run until the middle of May,” Jimenez said. “I still wanted to participate, and the doctor said I could walk, so I walked.”

This year’s race was the second Cap10k for Jimenez. She ran her first in eighth grade and hasn’t run another until today.

“It’s been a while,” Jimenez said. “I’ve watched my son do it for the past 2 years, and I wanted to do it with him.”

Many participants were running solo, but there were numerous groups and organizations that ran the race together.

Coretta Briscoe (third from the left) is the co-ambassador for the Austin chapter of Black Girls Run and ran the race with seven other group members.

“Black Girls Run is a national movement to encourage African Americans to get out there and be more healthy and move more,” Briscoe said.

The eight members of Black Girls Run who participated in the race took turns holding their organization’s sign while running and all finished together.

“This is my second year running the Cap10k,” Briscoe said. “It was good, but hilly in the beginning.”

Participants passing by the Capitol. 

The first group of runners for the Cap10K is the elite group, they are the first to start off the race.