I completed the first of two mile races of the season today with a Garmin time of 5:29.

I had hoped for a much better time than that but upon arriving at the course this morning I knew my work was going to be cut out for me, having found the first 350 meters or so of the course was flat then it went up, up, up leveling off just before the hairpin turnaround.

So there were two reasons to slow down right there and believe me when I tell you I took them, OOF!

It was not really a hill more of a long incline and based on what I saw during my 3 mile warmup my race plan was to run a fast 1st quarter, ease up on my effort just a bit while going up the incline for the 2nd quarter, regain my momentum coming out of the turn with a faster 3rd quarter, then finish strong.  And actually that is just how it played out except the 2nd quarter took way too long.

I figured out how to silence my Garmin earlier this week so I programmed it to record my quarter mile splits (actual quarter miles, not 400 meter splits) and they were:

1:14

1:28

1:26

1:20

Or in other words, not as good as I had hoped for the middle two.

The funny thing with the mile is one minute you are waiting forever for the start, then bam you are running your ass off, and the next it's all over just like that!

I am not happy that I was unable to take back on the downhill what I lost going up but I suppose I ran the first quarter a bit too fast (a pace of 4:59 I later learned) but honestly that is right where I wanted to be so who knows.

I ran at the front of the back third of the pack for most of the race and was passed just before the 3/4 mile point by a guy who apparently found his second wind, but I was able to eventually run him down and stay ahead of him through the finish.

I did slow down again about 15 meters or so from the finish when I saw the official clock for the first time I was really dejected.  Had I not looked I may have sliced another second or two off my time but oh well.

I guess looking at the finish clock can work both ways; sometimes you take off like a bat outta hell and other times, well it hits you the wrong way.

Be that as it may I have one more crack at this distance and will take the lessons learned today and try to apply them there.  It is a shame that such an exciting event is so rare around these parts but all you will mostly find here are 1 mile fun runs.

Anyway there were 25 runners and I placed 17th.  The top 3 men ran 4:25, 4:27 and 4:32.  The top three women ran 4:55, 5:00 and 5:03.

The top 3 male masters finishers ran 5:10, 5:15 and 5:25.  The women's masters winner ran a 5:36 and the only other female masters runner came in 25th at 6:28.

In all 5 runners ran in the 6:00's, 19 ran in the 5:00's and the top 6 went sub-5:00.

There was a ten second difference with my Garmin time and my official time of 5:39.  Others reported discrepancies ranging from 10 seconds to as much as 30 seconds depending on the event they ran (mile, 5k, or 10k).

As such I will not count today's race as a PR and my time of 5:35 from last July will stand as my official personal best until I beat it with an official time.  Hopefully that will come at my next event or it's gonna be a long ass off-season.

Thanks for reading!

Nice work Rick!  I've only one one miler and it was on a track, I'll be doing that same race again in August, looking forward to it.

LRB - tough to run a flat out mile when the course is not flat out.

We have a few serious mile races around my domicile, and most of them are set to be slightly downhill, with no turns - similar to the 5th ave mile in new york.  I've never run one but might put one on my list now.

Is your 2nd target the same course or different?

Uphill and you still put a smoking time?  Alright!

Who puts a hill and a hairpin turn in a mile race course? Sounds like you made the best of the situation and finished strong to make up for the early adjustments.

The mile sounds like a tough distance to master, and brutally painful.

Yes, there is a point during it where you wonder what in the hell you were thinking.  lol  That said, you are carrying some pretty impressive times across four distances and no doubt would have some fun of your own with the mile!

Bluesky my next mile event is a straight shot down the middle of the boulevard and is where my current mile PR was set.

Nice work, LRB! I fully blame you for my trying the mile last year

I like this on the scenes reporting in RRs.  We need more eye witnesses at races to give us the real deets

Outstanding performance, man.

So LRB & I raced at the same event today. I was out doing a warmup jog, and I see a guy coming towards me also warming up, but just blazing, and of course it was LRB.

This was an "Elite Mile" race, so you have to qualify just to get in. So big accomplishment right there.

The course was just a straight shot down the street (which was also the first 0.5 mile of the 5k/10k), then around the hairpin turn & back.

His race started at 7:45 and mine at 8:00, so I was able to finish my warmup in time to watch the mile finish. I know he wasn't feeling too good at the end but he was really booking. Super impressive. As he mentioned, a lot of amazingly fast people there; none of the top 3 finishers were local.

 

And major props - dude came back on the course to run the last mile or so of my 10k with me.

You da man.

 

Yes, there is a point during it where you wonder what in the hell you were thinking.  lol  

I got that feeling about 1/2 mile into my last 5k, but likely because I was going at mile race pace like a damn moron.