Racing a Mile

This past weekend I ran in the Magnificent Mile race in Raleigh for the first time. I had grand plans of training for this race over the summer (with lots of workouts on the track) but my Achilles Tendons had different ideas and I have struggled to log consistent mileage since early June and haven't been to the track in 10 weeks. My 5K times this summer haven't been too bad considering I really don't enjoy the heat and humidity, so I felt that even though I hadn't had a chance to improve my speed, it didn't seem like I had lost much even during three months of very low mileage. I felt confident I could run a mile in under 6:00 and set my sights on being under 5:50.

Race day started out with huge storms and lots of rain but as 2pm came around it was a perfect mid-60's with some clouds. I ran a mile to warm up and did some strides which reminded me that the ground was wet and the road surface was a little slippery. I made my way to the third row of the starting corral and found Charles who was also running and was surrounded by young kids. I didn't make much of an effort to move thinking that they would probably all take off at a sprint at the start and I'd have time to get around them when they slowed down - more on that later. The elite runners were introduced, including Bobby Mack who has run 4:10 twice in the past on this course.

The horn sounded and the front row of fast runners took off followed by the rest of the field. Unfortunately, the kids in front of me decided to walk/trot across the starting line. I couldn't get around them and before I knew it, I was 10 yards behind Charles still trying to get going. Charles told me after the race that he heard someone shout "what the hell..." - it was me as I tried to get around the walkers that decided to start in the second row of a mile race!

The first quarter mile was straight and involved a lot of weaving around slower runners and being passed by faster runners that started way back in the corral. I found an effort that felt good and we passed the first split in 82 seconds. The next half mile loops around the Capital building, starting with a sweeping right turn followed by three sharp lefts and a sweeping right. I knew I would lose some time with the corners but I wasn't prepared for the other runners that seemed to ran random lines without and regard for runners around them. I had my heel clipped on the first left and had to come to nearly a complete stop when two kids decided they needed to walk. Splits of 86 at 1/2 mile and 90 at 3/4 mile left me with a time of 4:18 with just over 400m to go.

I remember thinking as I made the final sweeping right that I felt pretty good and that I would wait until the 3/4 mile split before pushing the pace - in hindsight, that was probably too long to wait. Once I did the calculation in my head that I had 102 seconds to break 6:00 minutes and needed to run at least a 91 to be under 5:50, I began to push harder and started passing people. A slight incline was enough to hide the finish line from view, but I knew where it was and continued to increase the pace passing more and more runners who didn't have anything left in the tank.

I crossed the finish line with a time of 5:45 in 80th place overall. Bobby Mack had run a 4:11 and was pushed all the way by Sandy Roberts with 4:12... they had finished before I got to the 3/4 mile split!

So, with the walking start, being tripped, easing off too much in the middle and not upping the pace early enough I had managed to run a 5:45 mile. I wonder what I'll be able to run next year if I can train over the summer, stay out of trouble during the race and push a little harder earlier... 5:35? 5:30?