2013 Superior Downhill Mile Race Report

I decided to race a road mile on 4th of July because I'd never done a mile on the road before and it sounded like fun.  I haven't been doing much short speed work (or enough longer speed work while were on the subject), so I wasn't really sure what to expect in terms of time.  I ran a 5k in this area back in December and the start and part of the first mile was along this course and I ran the first mile in 5:55.  So I figured since I didn't have to keep running after the mile was over a 5:35-5:40 would be a good guess for my time.

I got in around a 3.25 mile warmup with part of it being a run down the course and then back up.  It was a nice gradual downhill most of the way.  As I was running back up to the start, I was running a little short on time.  I had to push the pace a bit to get back to my car, have my gu, change into my racing flats, and wait in one of two very slow moving bathroom lines.  After waiting for 10+ minutes in a bathroom line, it was a couple minutes to the start and so everyone in the line bailed and ran to the start.  I wish I hadn't wasted all that time in line when I could have been doing some strides/jogging some more.

I wasn't quite sure where to line up.  There were a lot of fast guys and girls there.  In the end, 3 guys went under 4 and 4 women were under 4:45.  I ended up lining up 4-5 rows back, behind several faster looking people, but ahead of the really small children and next to a fast looking 12 year old and some guys that were probably around my speed.

The gun went off and my legs just didn't turnover as fast as I wanted.  Several people ran past me and I just kept trying to convince my legs to move. After 300 meters or so I started passing a lot of people that started out too fast (a problem I don't have in a race this short).  I never felt like I was moving very fast, I was just going along with the flow of the crowd, which was fun!  I passed a traffic light in the middle of the course at 3:15 which I knew was probably around 650m or less to go.  Not long after this a woman (a coach I'm guessing) started screaming from the sidelines and then I heard her jump into the race behind me and keep screaming at a woman behind me.  She ran at least a quarter mile with the woman until 100m or so to go (after they had passed me) when she jumped off the course.   I got a little distracted by it. I probably should have focused ahead on keeping contact with the high school and junior high girls ahead of me and letting them pull me to a faster time instead of letting that distract me.

I finished with a gun time of 5:33 and a chip time of 5:31.5 and 17th overall female and 9th in the 20-39 age group. A little better time than I expected so I'm happy with it.

It was really fun because it was over so quick.  I don't have the leg speed yet to really hurt in a mile, so once I got to the finish I felt like I could have run another mile at the same pace.  At least that's what I like to tell myself :)  I'd like to do another mile race after I am in a little speedier shape.  There is one next Wednesday in Boulder, but that doesn't give me time to get in shape.  After that I only know of 1500's on the track, so I may just do one of those.  I definitely liked the feel of the road mile with all the people around.

Looking cool and calm heading to the finish.  

And then the ugly pain face going to the finish. Maybe I couldn't have run another mile after all :)