As Keith Pierce warmed up for the 33rd running of the Statesman Capitol 10,000 on Sunday morning, his coach and Team Mizuno teammate—Derick Williamson—offered two bits of wisdom: "Watch out for the hills and just try to be patient."
Good advice.
Running in the first serious 10-K road race of his life, Pierce overwhelmed the field of 20,000 runners and walkers (and assorted other things) to win a stirring victory in 30:33. In the women’s division, Austin’s Desiree Ficker won another tough fight in 35:36.
Unlike several recent Cap 10s which have seen runaway victories, Sunday’s race was hotly contested as Pierce prevailed over a host of Team Rogue runners and Ficker barely held off Alison MacSas by three seconds.
First, the men’s race. Under misting clouds with near 100 percent humidity, conditions were hardly ideal as the huge field made its way toward the Capitol up Congress Avenue. Out in front from the gun, were a pack of Rogue runners: Adam Perkins, Kyle Miller, Erik Stanley, Darren Brown and the lone exception, Pierce.
Brown, the former UT miler who won last year’s Cap 10, was the aggressor and took the first mile out in 5:05. On the big downhill mile on 15th Street, Pierce and Brown separated themselves from the pack and went back and forth, trading the lead.
"It was great to watch those two from the press truck," said Steve Sisson, the UT women’s coach who also coaches the Rogue team. "First Darren would surge and then Keith would pull even. Then Keith would try and pull away and Darren would reel him right back."
Coming off the big hills onto Winsted (just past the 3-mile mark), Brown made a major move with a 4:39 mile and put some five or seconds on Pierce. "Darren was really hammering those downhills," said Pierce, a 29-year-old teacher and cross-country coach at Vandegrift HS in Leander, "and coming off the last big one he gapped me. About then, I started to really feel the humidity. It was misting so hard I couldn’t tell whether it was sweat or rain running off my nose."
But as Brown pressed his advantage on the rolling hills of Winsted, Pierce patiently bided his time. Then, right after the duo flew down a short, steep hill right outside Austin HS, Pierce went by him on the flat section opposite the track.
"I defeated myself today," said Brown. "Keith ran a helluva race, but I just pushed it too hard on that last move and when he hit me, Keith hit me like a ton of bricks."
Kaboom! Race over.
"I felt pretty comfortable going over the hills," said Pierce who ran a 4:58 final mile over the tough Cesar Chavez hills. "The hills were tough and I was slipping a little, but I never got out of my rhythm. Once Darren came back to me outside of Austin High, I put in a little surge of my own and guess he just never came back."
Pierce, who won the Austin Marathon in February, went on to record a 35-second victory over Rogue’s Mike Stanley in second in 31:07 with Brown third in 31:20. Adam Perkins was fourth in 31:34. Benny Rodriguez of Laredo (and Team Mizuno), coming off a second place finish in the Little Rock Marathon, was fifth in 32:02.
"It was tough conditions," said Pierce who lives in Cedar Park, "but I felt great. Especially in the final mile, I felt really strong. I haven’t race since Austin, but I’ve been getting in some quality speedwork with David Fuentes and Derick and I was curious to see how I would run."
Guess he ran okay for a first-time 10-K runner. Next up for Pierce is the Schlotzky’s Bun Run 5-K on May 2ndand then, in June, he’ll run the Grandma’s Marathon for the second time in Duluth, Minnesota where he hopes to get an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier.
First masters of the day was 49-year-old Paul Zimmerman of Cedar Creek (8th overall) in 32:25. Jeff Shelton, 41, of Buda was second in 33:48 and 41-year-old Brandon Cahoon was third in 37:50.
The women’s race was no less exciting than the men’s. Ficker, the 33-year-old professional triathlete, was certainly feeling the effects of a tough Ironman race two weeks ago in Australia, but she took off going up Congress with a small group of men, despite not feeling particularly well.
MacSas, who ran at the University of Tampa, trailed Ficker going up Congress and the series of rollercoaster hills on 15th Street and Enfield (miles two and three) but was able to keep her in sight.
"I felt like I was slipping and sliding on the hills," said MacSas who is training for her marathon debut this summer at Grandma’s. "I could see Des, but could never quite get up there with her."
Still, MacSas hung in and in the final mile, along Cesar Chavez, she powered up the two short hills to close the gap on Ficker.
"I really didn’t know where Allison was," said Ficker who, like Pierce won two roundtrip airlines tickets from JetBlue, "but as we made the turn off Cesar Chavez onto the South 1st Street Bridge, I could hear people yelling for her and knew she must be close."
Too close.
Although MacSas closed the gap in the final straightaway to the finish along Riverside, she ran out of room and finished three seconds down on Ficker’s 35:36. MacSas’ time of 35:39 is only one second slower than the 10-K PR she set last fall in the IBM Downtown Classic (on a flatter course in much better conditions). Amanda Lovato, another pro triathlete, was third in 36:07 and Liz Shelton of Buda, a former UT runner, finished fourth in a road PR of 37:13.
Masterly woman of the morning was 43-year-old Catherine Barrera who was easily the class of the field. Barrera, 11th overall, ran 39:22. Jennifer Fisher, 42, was second in 41:20 with 40-year-old Ellen Gold third in 41:48.
"The weather was so muggy," said Ficker, who has now won the Cap 10 three straight years, "it made it tough for everyone."
The weather is almost always tough at Cap 10, but next year the race will move up three weeks to March 27thwhen the weather should be a little more favorable. The hills will still be there, but the humidity probably won’t.
