As I mentioned previously, I raced in the Congress Avenue Mile last Saturday. As the name suggests, it’s a one-mile race down …. Congress Avenue. I say “down” and I literally mean “down”, as the course is nearly all downhill, which makes for some really fast times. I can’t believe I’m about to type this, but in the back of my mind I had aspirations of running a sub 5:00 minute mile (if you know me, you know how completely far-fetched that sounds as of about a year ago; I was in the 8 minute range, and that was a drastic improvement over several years ago.) Sure, as an 18-year old college freshman I ran a 6:15 mile on a track, but that was 17 years ago, and up until last November I probably never exceeded an 8 minute pace in various 5Ks and whatnot.
So where did these sub-5 dreams come from? It’s hard to change one’s perception of oneself and I’ve always thought of myself as slow (and fat, but that’s another story). But last November I joined Gilbert’s Gazelles Training Group and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. I love it, and it’s made me fast(er). I went from an 8 minute miler to a 6 minute miler almost immediately. I started running mile repeats (run a mile, rest 2 minutes, run a mile, rest 2 minutes, etc.) in 6:20. I ran a Half-Marathon at a 7:10 pace, a 10K at 6:59. So I was beginning to think I might be fast, but I also had years of “not-fast” thinking to overcome.
At the Gazelles Thursday workout, 2 days before the race, Gilbert pulled out the 6 of us who were going to do the race and had us do a special workout (the rest of the group was doing 1000 meter intervals). We were to run one 800 at race pace, rest 5 minutes, run one 400 at race pace, then finish with 200s, working on butt kick and high knee. I did the 800 in 2:30 and the 400 in 68 seconds. If I could keep up that 800 pace for the mile, I’d come in right at 5 minutes. I’d heard that the downhill course could shave up to 20 seconds off your time, but I also knew I wouldn’t be able to keep that 800 pace for a mile, so I split the difference and thought “Well, if I have the race of my life, can keep up the pace, get the downhill working for me, get the adreneline flowing, find a pacesetter to run with, I just might break 5:00 minutes.” Yeah, a lot of ifs, but a boy’s gotta dream, right.
Saturday, race day, my heat didn’t go until 9:30. I signed up for the 5:00-5:59 pace heat, got there about 45 minutes early and had a lot of nervous energy to burn off. I had really wanted to do well, and had been thinking about this race all week.
Come start time I got in the second row of runners, thinking I would stay on someone’s hip and not go out too fast. But within 5 strides after the horn sounded, I was out front. I told myself all week not to do this, but here I was going out like a rabbit. But I felt good, and it was downhill, and I was racing, and …. I should have known better.
I think I led for the first quarter mile or so and probably did that first quarter in 60 seconds….way, way too fast. I was kind of panicking. The TV truck (oh, did I mention this would be on TV??) was right in my face, and I was trying to look good, but I was already starting to feel it. Someone passed me around 600 meters, and by the 1/2 mile point I knew I was toast. I did that first 800 in 2:20 and I was dying as more and more people passed me. I shudder now to think of how ridiculous it will look on TV.
I hit the 3/4 mile mark in about 3:50 I think. Who knows though, I was delerious, and my whole body ached, from my teeth (seriously) to my toes. I knew I would never do that last 400 in 70 seconds and that my sub-5:00 mile was way out of reach, so I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but I kind of gave up. I had a small spurt for about 100 yards where I tried to kick home, but I just had nothing left. I fairly jogged to the finish line.
Now here’s where it gets a bit strange. I clearly saw 5:11 on the clock as I finished, and Jessica ran up to me afterwards and said “5:11! great job” so she saw the same thing. But when I looked at my results they say 5:19. That had to be wrong I thought, two otherwise normal adults saw the same time. We saw 5:11. Surely the pictures will prove us right. But alas, it is not to be, the photos clearly show me finishing at 5:19. Ah well, 5:19, 5:11, 4:59 …. what’s 20 seconds anyway? ;)
“Next year,” my coach said after the race, “four-thirty.”
So there you have it, my dorky, overly descriptive recounting of a one mile race. It took longer to type than to run. Time to move on and look foward for the CapTexTri this weekend.
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[...] I could still see the leaders, maybe 350 meters ahead. They were following the lead police car and were running down the middle of the traffic lane, even though cones were set out to the side. I stayed in the cones. Finally, the promised downhill. I’d been looking forward to this half-mile stretch for two days. I felt good. Not really much pain, or not as much as I had feared. Maybe I managed it better. Maybe I wasn’t pushing hard enough. Maybe I mis-remember the pain. Maybe I compare everything to the Fila Relays (or Congress Mile) and anything else is relative cake. Maybe I was just buoyed by being in seventh place. [...]
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May 19th, 2007 at 8:53 pm