Water St Mile

This race is one of the races that I try to do every year--it is put on by the club I belong to for one thing, but also there is a certain allure to racing a mile for me. Because the mile is unit of measurement for my runs, it seems that running a mile race gives me a sense of my base.

I went into this year's race further behind in my training--I'm in the third week of doing hill work--than I would like but my better than expected results in other races left me optimistic that I wouldn't be too far off.

When I'm in reasonable shape, my mile times bunch pretty tight--5:16-5:20.

My pacing strategy coming into this race was to sit behind two runners--Jenn and/or Fred, my shoe guy. Both are normally close to where I finish and while I had not raced either this year, both of their times seemed to be a bit better this year, so maybe they could pull me along to a fast time.

I got to the race in plenty of time, got a two mile warm up and some stretching in. Switched into my flats and did a little speed work.

The race itself went by awful fast--had to dodge some little kids that typically lined in the very front. I never saw the first quarter mile marker, finally at 2 minutes I checked my watch and confirmed I had to be past it. Around that time, I also decided that I was going too slow for a mile--wasn't hurting enough yet, so I passed Jenn and set my eyes on a further target.

I never spotted Fred during the race, ended up he was behind me. The problem, I decided afterwards, with using Fred & Jenn as pacers was that they've been running fast MARATHON times, which doesn't necessarily translate to fast mile times..

Hit the half at 2:39--right about where I wanted to be. Thee quarters came at 4:00, again right on pace. The race was run in the opposite direction this year, finishing with a slight curve in the final stretch, so I couldn't sight the finish until it was almost too late. Pushed hard but I left a little too much in the tank. Finished with a 5:18 watch time. With a little better course awareness, think I could have run 5:16 at least.

I should have prerun the course--the street itself is one I've driven hundreds of times and have run often so I warmed up along a nearby bike trail. Prerunning the course would have given me a better sense of where around the bend the finish actually was and hopefully I would have noticed where the 1/4 mile was so I could have gotten some pace feedback a little earlier although I think I benefited by running the first chunk a little easy.

Overall, I am happy with where my fitness is but a little unhappy with how I actually raced. Does leave me yearning for a chance to run an actual mile race on the track with others running around my pace.