Going into the race, my PR was a 5:45 from the Magnificent Mile a few years back (yeah, my high school PR was a 6:08). My most recent "time trials" were a 6:04 and a 5:55. I haven't really set any time goals since breaking 6 minutes because that is all I really wanted to ever do. Having said that, if I ran a 5:40, I wouldn't mind.
Realistically, I figured I could run somewhere between a 5:40 and 5:45. I haven't raced a mile in a while. I've spent the majority of the past three years marathon training. But, my track workouts have been half decent lately. My speed has been slowing returning since I've cut back my mileage. But, a 5:40 is still 15sec faster than any mile I've run lately, which is a decent chunk of time for a distance that short. Also, that's an 85sec quarter, which again is a time I've only just managed to hit with any consistency.
I got a decent warm-up in, and managed to cram onto the start line with Rita and Deb. There were a bunch of little kids up there. Anyways, the race started, and this girl in a pair of Newtons took off. She was out of sight. Or, at least out of my sight, which might not be saying too much. That left five of us kind of running in a pack. I semi-recognized two of the girls as "fast runners from other races", and I knew Deb and Rita. I felt comfortable where I was, not out in front but not out of contact either.
There were flags marking the quarter miles, which was nice. Also, I was close enough to Kara who was smart enough to set her Garmin to audibly lap at the quarter miles... I kind of wish I had done that so I could figure out what my splits were (because there was no way in hell I was actually going to try and look at my watch... I'm not that coordinated). I finally managed to catch Rita around the quarter mile, although my distance from the other two girls was about the same. Deb caught me by the half mile, and started closing on the two girls in front of us. Rita was still right on my heels. It was kind of interesting seeing how the race was unfolding. By the three-quarter mile, I suddenly saw the Newton girl. I was getting tired, but the course starts really going downhill at that point. I made a move and caught her shortly thereafter.
I felt pretty good the last quarter mile, and think I even managed to pick it up a little. At least, my legs were turning over faster. The Newton girl surged with about 25m to go. I tried to go with her, but I don't have that gear. So, I ended up in 5th. I heard them yell out something-one when I crossed the line. I was hoping 41, as in a 5:41. That would make me pretty happy. I stopped my watch and looked down.
5:29
Officially a 5:22. Wow. I had no idea that my legs could actually move that fast for a mile. And, while I know losing 120ft over the course of a mile helped a lot, it was still a mile and I still ran it in that time. So, a PR with an asterisk. I'd be interested to see what could do in a track race, or the Magnificent Mile this year.
That's a picture Jim sent me from somewhere along the race course. I'm wearing sunglasses next time!
Loved this recap! WHAT A RACE!
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