Ran the Strider Mile today, put on by my running club.  This was my first ever mile race.  My fastest mile to date was 6:05, that was the first mile of my 5k PR.  After looking at some of my PRs and what McMillan thinks I can do, throw in a lil August weather (altho it was thank fully mild and overcast), I figured a 5:40 might be doable.  Overall I would have been happy with anything sub-6.

This was also a USATF race walking event.  The race walkers went first.  As I'm warming up on the outside of the track I look over and notice that I'm going neck and neck with a race walker who looked to be in his 50s.  I talked to him later and he clocked a 8:20 mile, pretty fast for walking.

Before the race I was talking to a friend in the running club, told him that I had never run a mile before and pretty much had no clue what I was doing, he hooked me up with another guy who he said was very consistent and was looking to run in the 5:30s.  This would turn out to be a huge lifesaver for me.

First lap - 1:20 - This is the only lap that I know the lap time for, because I forgot my watch and I wasn't paying attention to the clock for the other laps.  This is also where having someone to pace with was a huge help.  The entire first lap I kept thinking, why are we going so slow?  If I had been pacing myself, I would have gone out much faster and then paid for it later in the race.  But I decided to trust Greg's pacing, glad I did.  Overall, first lap was cake, but that was about to change.

Second lap - This is where it started to get difficult, not painful yet, but I had to push to keep up the pace, definitely starting putting in some real effort.  Pretty uneventful overall, but I could tell it was only going to get worse.

Third lap - Now here is where it really started to suck, my breathing was heavy, started to have to really focus to stay on pace and keep my legs moving.  Got passed by another Greg, who I know, who before the race had told me that he wasn't really trained for it and would be surprised if he went sub-6, ha!  He was the first person to pass me, but I wasn't going to let it demotivate me.

Fourth lap - Everyone said the fourth lap takes care of itself, because your close to the finish, but this was definitely the hardest lap for me.  I started to fall off the pace about half way through the fourth lap, not too far, but I just couldn't hang with Greg anymore.  So I just kept at it, focusing on my turnover and keeping my legs moving.  Got passed one more time, coming out of the last turn, I tried to kick, but I didn't really have anything left.

They had a chute set up 9 yards past the starting line, official time: 5:39  The guy I was pacing off of finished with a 5:35, so I didn't fall too far behind.  I'm very happy with the results, nailed my goal and took 1st place in my AG (altho, I should admit, I was the only one in my AG lol).

After all of the mile heats were done, they had a random relay race, where you didn't get to pick your team.  I ran a 1:15 for my relay lap and my team ended up coming in 2nd, that was pretty cool.  Our anchor was the overall mile winner (4:44) and ran a 54sec relay lap, crazy fast.

Overall it was a great race, I think I ran it really well, especially with zero specific prep.  In a couple of months I start marathon training, which I'm sure will help with my mile time, but next year I think I'd like to dedicate some training to it and see how much I can improve.  It was fun, in a painful, masochistic sort of way.

 I figured a 5:40 might be doable...

... official time: 5:39 

Wow. That's some fast running and some accurate predicting. Alan Webb meets Nate Silver?

Great job!

That's really awesome D2! Congrats on a fast race.

Yep, that's about as good a description of a mile race as I've read. Perhaps a tad too fast the first lap, 82-83 would have been better, but it does help to maintain contact with the pack or at least another runner to help pull you along.

Great job Dave! I as well haven't ran a mile and am a bit scared to try. Like you said the HM almost seems like an easier distance. I guess the race is over sooner so the time in the pain cave is much shorter.

Thanks Andrew!  It's definitely shorter, but it's a much different kind of pain than grinding out the miles in a long race.  

Thanks Traci!  Now I'm more curious than ever to see what I can do with some speed work, which I swear I'm going to start doing...soon.

Very impressive.  Congratulations!