Race Report: Run Unbridled Track Meet, June 12, 2026

I ran the mile and the 800 at the Run Unbridled Track Fest this past weekend, running 6:53.5 for the mile and 3:27.07 for 800.

The Light Horse Track Club puts on two great summer track meets - Down the Stretch on Memorial Day weekend and Run Unbridled in June. I missed Down the Stretch because it conflicted with the Tri-State Games in New Jersey that same weekend. Watching the meet (live-streamed on YouTube) from a Holiday Inn in Newark sealed my decision to register for Run Unbridled.

***

The meet started at 5 pm, and I was in the first heat of the first race, so I left around 3 pm to drive out to Fairfax. It's about a 25 minute drive with no traffic, but there's always traffic in Northern Virginia, and 3 pm is essentially the start of rush hour. Fortunately, the drive wasn't too bad and I arrived around 3:40 pm - enough time to grab my number, do some mobilizations, and warm up. And take my meds.

On that last point…as a brief recap of a complex topic, having Parkinson's is somewhat like having diabetes. Except that it's not insulin that you are having to replace, but a neurotransmitter (dopamine).

Similar to a diabetic, I manage and time my meds so that my dopamine levels stay within a window.  Above that window means lots of involuntary muscle movements (as if you drank way too much coffee).  Below that window means that one is really stiff and slow (as if you ran a marathon the previous day). Within the window means a little bit of each.

My experience has been that the window of optimal dopamine levels for fast running is narrower than that for normal life, which makes sense - fast running is neurologically complex. Interestingly enough, the window for fast running is at the bottom of the "normal" window - basically it's easier to run fast with a) low power but muscles that mostly do what you want than with b) lots of energy but not great control.

The pills that I take (Rytary) generally last for four hours, with the dose trailing off after. This means that if I take a dose every four hours, each dose is a bit stronger than the last, since I've still got the residual tail of the previous dose in me. All of this means that timing my medications for racing is a mix of careful scheduling and assessing how I feel.  

For this evening’s races, I decided to time my meds throughout the day so that I would take my next Rytary at 4 pm - resulting in a “good running” window of just after 4 pm to 8 pm. With one race at 5 pm and the other at 6:50 pm, that window would cover both races plus my warm-up, with an hour margin of error.

***

I need a long warm up before I race, with more time if the distance is shorter, so I started warming up around 4:15 pm for my 5 pm race. 

Usually, I warm up in the shoes that I intend to race in, because it’s very hard for me to transition between different shoes. Essentially, I have to relearn how to run in each pair of shoes, and it takes me some time (it’s a neuro thing). However, I figured out earlier this week that the Topo Spectre (plated shoe but relatively low stack and low heel drop) feels a lot like my spikes, so I warmed up in that shoe and then swapped fairly easily to my spikes (the Hoka Cielo FLyX Lite*) for some final strides before lining up.

*[I am nostalgic for a simpler time, when running shoe model names were one word and then a number.]

Just as the mile was about to start, lightning flashed in the distance. That triggered a 30 minute delay and relocation of all runners and spectators to the indoor track (conveniently about 200 yards away).

This was a problem for me - it takes me about half an hour to warm up (mostly an age thing), and I stiffen up and lose the benefit of that warm-up within minutes after I stop (I suspect a mix of age and Parkinsons). So, with a half-hour delay, when should I start warming up again? 

I decided to wait until 5:10 and then do a shortened warm-up on the indoor track. I was about 10 minutes into this warm-up when the meet was delayed again another half-hour by yet another bolt of lightning in the distance.

The evening continued on like this, with a storm rolling through. Finally, a bit after 6 pm, it was confirmed that the meet would be starting at 6:30. So, I warmed up a third time, swapped into my spikes again for more strides, and headed to the start line.

***

The storm’s passing had not cooled things down - it was still oppressively hot and humid (85 with a dew point of 80 when I checked the weather later). Fortunately, I was just racing a mile (and not a 1500, as I repeatedly reminded myself).

We lined up at the waterfall line and the gun fired. My first few steps off of the line were slow. This wasn’t directly because of Parkinsons (I can move faster than that) but indirectly from Parkinsons. Even for short races, I run much better if I spend the first few steps getting my gait organized - shoulders and feet relaxed, torso rotating, etc - and then start running fast.  Rushing my start results in an ugly race and a slower time.

The nice thing about starting slow was that the chaos of the first meters of a track race all played out ahead of me, leaving me a clear track to run. Once my gait was set, I picked up the pace and promptly reeled in one woman. That left me with about 1550 meters to go and a pack of people pulling away ahead of me.

I used the next laps to just focus on running smoothly and keeping my legs floppy - reminding myself that I run my fastest that way. It’s always a leap of faith because my perception is off and I don’t feel the base level of tension that my muscles always have now.  Because of that tension, when I try to run hard everything over-contracts and I end up working against myself and running tensely and slowly. OTOH, relaxed loose running feels like I am not giving it my best but is in actuality significantly faster.  

Fortunately, some of the runners ahead of me were starting to slow and come back to me, which provided reassurance and feedback that I was running well, even if it didn’t feel like it. My coach also yelled at me that I was running really well and on pace to break 7 minutes - a very good run for me right now.  This was helpful but also tempted me to start running harder and lock my muscles up - a temptation that I more or less resisted.

By the middle of lap 3, I was really feeling the heat and the humidity. The last 600m of the race were all about holding my rhythm and keeping my body loose. I managed to more or less accomplish this and cross the finish in 6:53 - well under 7 minutes. I was tired, but also extremely happy. Three weeks ago an 800m race at sub-7 minute pace had been a big step forward, and now I had just run that pace for twice the distance (plus 9m).  

***

After my heat of the mile, two more heats went and then another storm rolled in, prompting more delays.  By this point, it was clear that my 800m race, originally scheduled for 6:50 pm, was going to start well after 8 pm and outside of my “good running” window.  A revision of the meet schedule to move the elite races up shifted my 800m heat even later, to some time after 10 pm.

I honestly wasn’t quite sure of how to handle this medication-wise. When I go out late with friends, I just take another dose. However, the window of optimal dopamine levels is much wider when I’m chatting and bouncing around at a show than when I’m trying to run my best, so there’s more room for error. 

After some debate, I took another dose of Rytary at 8 pm, hoping for the best. About 10 minutes later, I realized this wasn’t the right decision. Rytary has that long tail off after the 4 hour window, and I was now a bit overmedicated for running well (though still good for everything else). My walking was just a little too bouncy and jerky.

Digesting protein can reduce the effectiveness of Parkinson’s medication, and so I took a few bites of a protein bar in hopes of toning things down. Unfortunately, it didn’t work (I guess that interference only happens when you don’t want it to). Oh well, this wouldn’t be the first or last time I raced on sub-optimal medication. And with 2 hours to go until my next race, perhaps things would calm down.

***

Around 10 pm I began warming up for the fourth time, for my second race of the evening.  I could tell that I was still a bit over medicated so I’d just have to do the best I could. 

We lined up for the 800m around 10:30 pm. Once again, I was dropped immediately after the gun. I wasn’t quite as good at patiently establishing my gait this time, instead rushing my start and accelerating too quickly. Some of this may have been too much medication, some might have been the increased urgency of two laps versus four, and some might have been mental fatigue from a very long evening. 

The result was two rough laps - I did my best with what I had, but I didn’t feel as smooth as the mile. I finished the 800m in 3:27 - almost exactly what I had split for the first 809m of the mile.  

As bummed as I was about that, it was still a great run for other reasons. A number of my friends who were cooling down from their races on the infield were cheering for me, and it seemed like every corner of the track had a friend from a different DC area running team urging me on. While it wasn’t my best run, experiencing that much support and encouragement was something very special that’s hard to express in words even a few days later. 

It was a good meet for me, with two races that were both great for completely different reasons.

***

Splits were:

Mile: 1:44.89/1:42.26/1:43.01/1:43.34

800m: 1:42.64/1:44.43

Consistent, if nothing else.

Other notes:

• The other consequence of taking Rytary so late was that my sleep was completely screwed up.  Of course, I suspect that running so late would have screwed it up anyway.

• Despite the delays, this was still a great meet and I had a fantastic time, both running and hanging out.  I am so grateful that Light Horse Track Club holds these meets for the community. And I really appreciate the efforts they made to maintain a quality event despite the weather issues.

• There were a lot of great races at the meet, including my Capital Area Runners teammates winning one heat of the mile and one heat of the 800m.

• I'm amused that my calves weren't sore at all after this meet, given that I raced twice in spikes. I generally don't use my calves much when I run, and I guess this is evidence of that.

Race Report: Fifth Avenue Mile, September 12, 2021

I ran the Fifth Avenue Mile today, finishing in a time of 6:00 flat.  Not sure where that placed in my age group (other than that it wasn't top 3).

Fifth Avenue Mile and Cherry Blossom are two of my favorite races, and they both ended up on the same day.  Which of course begs the question - why the heck would I go to the time and effort to travel up to New York City when I could have slept in my own bed and run Cherry Blossom.

The answer is that Fifth Avenue Mile was more appealing and a better fit for where I am right now.  Basically I'm still rebuilding from iron deficiency and all that other fun ulcerative colitis stuff.  And I'm doing that while training for Indy Monumental Marathon.  And due to the way things have played out this year, I haven't had a chance to focus on or race any shorter stuff this year.  I also haven't raced since Grandma's Marathon in mid-June.

I needed a rust-buster - ideally at a distance that would not require too much taper or recovery, and also would let me do a little work on top-end speed.  Racing a mile fit really well into that plan; racing a 10 miler did not. 

***

So I hopped on a train up to New York on Saturday - my first trip to NYC since Covid.  Nothing is ever easy in the time of Covid.  My plan for Saturday was first to pick up my bib at the Cherry Blossom Expo (I was entered in Cherry Blossom, and the expo was on the way to Union Station, so why not grab it.  That way, if for some reason I couldn't get to New York, I still had Cherry Blossom as an option).  Then I'd get lunch at Union Station before taking the train up to New York.  

I left my house fairly early just in case the Cherry Blossom expo was crowded, but it wasn't.  However, I then discovered that nearly everything was closed at Union Station (Covid), so I ended up doing a lot more walking than I had planned, trying to find somewhere to get food.  Not ideal, but at least I was only racing a mile.

The train ride was uneventful, but when I got to my hotel in New York, I hit another snag.  Apparently the hotel was completely booked, and many of the guests from the night before had decided to stay past check out time.  Add to that a shortage in hotel staff to turn over the rooms that were available (Covid), and the result was a lobby full of really pissed off people who had reservations but could not check in, and would not be able to get a room for a few hours.

I looked around, but didn't see any other hotels with open rooms available for less than $1K a night, so I just parked myself in the hotel lobby and played on the internet - fortunately, a room came available about 40 minutes later, so that ended up not being so bad.

(side note: if you are nice to the hotel staff, and acknowledge that they are having a bad day for something that is not their fault, it is amazing what they will do to help you in return.   OTOH, losing your temper generally doesn't help you at all.)

***

My heat of the mile started at 7:45 am, but I had to grab my bib that morning, so I left my hotel around 6:20.  I was about a mile and a half from the race start - that would work nicely as my initial warm-up jog, and then I could grab my bib and check my t-shirt at the start and finish my warm-up with some faster running.

I grabbed my bib and t-shirt at the start, only to learn that bag check was at the finish (y'know, a mile away).   So that was an extra bit of running I'd have to do.  Either that or toss the shirt, but I wanted the shirt.   So back to the finish line I went.

There was an unexpected positive to this though - at bag check I saw my friend Michelle - we had met at the last 5th Avenue Mile where we had battled back and forth.  It was good to see her again and to catch up.

After checking my shirt and chatting, I did my standard warm-up (3:00 at marathon-to-half marathon pace, 4x30 seconds at 5K pace, and 4x10 seconds at mile pace).  And then I joined the masses waiting to enter our corral.

In years past, this race has split men 40-49 and women 40-49 into two separate heats, but this year, for whatever reason, they combined them. They still had two heats, but instead of women 40-49 and men 40-49, they had all 40-49 (faster than 8 minutes) and then all 40-49 slower than 8 minutes.

In smaller races, I think that way of splitting makes a lot of sense, and is better - it lets people of similar pace run together.  But....Fifth Avenue Mile is a very big, competitive race - combining it this way meant that you just had too many people trying to run at their top speed on a stretch of road that wasn't quite wide enough.

The problem was compounded by the fact that they had no guidance in the corral on paces.  They really should put up signs for "4:30 pace, 4:45 pace, 5:00 pace" etc.  Not that people always (or often) follow this guidance.  But it does help some.

But it was what it was, so we lined up.  If it was a women's only race, I would have lined up in the first or second line.  But given the mix, I knew I needed to be a bit further back, so I ducked back to around the 5th or 6th line.

***

The gun went off, and it was chaotic, as expected.  Right after the start I was shoved, which caused me to lose my balance (it's getting better but still a work in progress).  I windmilled my arms (I don't think I took anyone out, thankfully) and regained my balance before continuing on.

The rest of the race was a blur, I guess as miles always are.   I honestly didn't notice the inclines/declines of the course because I was too focused on navigating around others.  The whole thing had a very "first mile of marathon" feel in terms of closeness of runners and weaving.   Except that we were racing a mile, and I couldn't just stay patient and wait for traffic to clear.  To be fair, perhaps this race has always been like this for people of different paces, and I'm just experiencing it now since I'm not in great shape.

Crossed the finish line, and then clicked stop.  Since I stopped my watch after the finish I had to look up my official time later.  6 minutes exactly - bummer.

But honestly, even though the time was a bit slower than I was expecting (I thought 5:45 was reasonable on this course), I'm overall still happy with the experience.  I got my rust buster out of the way and got the speed workout that I was looking for.  As a late 40s runner who focuses on the marathon, racing miles is just plain good for me, and I clearly haven't been doing it enough.

I noted that my legs got lactic pretty early on, and had no pop.   In retrospect, not surprising at all.  It's been a long time since I've raced a mile, and my experience has always been that the first mile after time away from the distance is a shock to the system, and just plain sucks.  I've read where serious milers and 800m runners discuss the need to build up lactic tolerance, and that may have been what I experienced here.  

Splits were (Garmin Autolap):

first quarter - 92 (downhill plus lost balance)

second quarter - 90 (uphill)

third quarter - 89 (downhill)

fourth quarter - 89 (flat)

Other notes:

• The weather ended up great temperature-wise for a mile - in the upper 60s.  Unfortunately there was also a 10 mph headwind from the southwest for my heat. I guess the good news about being so far back was that I don't think the headwind affected my race at all.  I was well-protected.
• I wore the Puma Deviate Nitro Elite for this race.  I'm kinda neutral on it at this distance - I'm not sure it's the greatest shoe for a mile.  OTOH, I don't think it hurt me at all here.  I plan on testing it with some marathon pace running to see how I like it for that. (It certainly worked for Molly Seidel).
• Afterwards, I ran back to my hotel, changed shoes, and then did a loop in Central Park.  I think I'd go crazy from repetition if I had to run in Central Park all the time, but it really is a joy to run in there every once in a while.
• After my Central Park run, I showered at my hotel, only to discover that my shower had only luke-warm water.  I did tell the poor clerk last night that I would happily take any room she could offer me, so I guess that was part of the deal.
• Taking the train to and from New York also meant that I got to experience the brand new Moynihan Train Hall.  Now, you can board Amtrak from either Penn Station (the old way) or across the street at Moynihan Train Hall.  Thus achieving Amtrak's apparent goal of confusing passengers in new and innovative ways, since they still haven't figured out a way to give you more than 2 minutes warning of which track your train will be on when you board.  

 

Race report: Harrisburg Mile, August 19, 2020

I ran the Harrisburg Mile on Wednesday, finishing in a new personal worst of 6:55 for the mile, which is slower than my marathon PR pace.

[for anyone who doesn't want to read the whole race report - I'm fine - I just got lost during the race.]

Despite the finishing time, I'm really glad I ran this - it was simply wonderful to be racing again - a bit of normalcy.

The Harrisburg Mile is usually held on a Wednesday in July.  It's a straight point to point mile on Front Street - mostly flat but with a slight climb in the last 200m.  They run the race in multiple waves, with a big finish line festival - snow cones, funnel cakes, beer garden, moon bounces, etc.  (I don't think they let you enjoy both the beer garden and the moon bounce - pick your poison).

But... the pandemic changed things.  The race management pushed back the race by a month to get some additional planning time, and then came up with an alternate route that worked better for social distancing at the start and finish.  The new course looped around City Island, a mile long island in the middle of the Susquehanna River that hosts things like miniature golf, a small sports stadium, a choo choo train, etc.  Kinda an outdoor family fun place.

Things would be different in other ways too.  No moon bounce, no funnel cake, no beer garden, no awards ceremony.  Bib pick-up was moved from the YMCA (indoors) to the parking lot near the finish line, with a mask requirement and plexiglass between the runners and volunteers.

And the race went with a rolling start.  Instead of official start times there were start time windows.  Any time during one of those windows, I could show up, cross the start line, and run my race.  (I was required to wear a mask when approaching the start line and after finishing the race, but did not need to wear it while running as long as I carried it with me).

Since I'm 46, I had my choice of doing the open wave and starting any time between 2 pm and 5:45 pm, or waiting until the 40-49 age window of 6:55-7:15pm.    I technically qualified for the elite race (which would be held at 7:45) but opted out - I'm currently nowhere near the fitness I would need to run in that heat.  

(If anyone wants to read more details about the protocols, they are here.)

***

I've been nursing a pulled hamstring back to health, so I was a bit iffy on doing this race.  But it felt fine this week - or close enough to fine that I didn't feel I was doing anything too stupid by racing on a flat course.  (of course, I didn't think I was doing anything stupid when I pulled it, so there you go).  So I headed up to Harrisburg on Wednesday a bit before noon.

My usual MO is to buy a day pass to the local YMCA and camp out there for the afternoon pre-race, and then shower there post-race.  But, I opted out this year - I've been avoiding gyms, and I'm not sure they'd let me drop in anyway, even though they're open.  Instead I booked a room at a local hotel for the afternoon (weekday reservations in the time of corona are quite affordable).  Once in Harrisburg, I picked up my bib and then checked into a hotel where I was quite possibly the only guest (no issue with that whatsoever).  In my room, I noted that individual packets of hand sanitizer are now part of the standard hotel toiletry set, along with shampoo and soap.

After giving it some thought, I decided to start during my designated time slot (6:55-7:15) rather than go with the earlier open start.  My hope was that there would be people to chase at that time, even if we didn't start together.  So I worked until around 5:15, then started stretching before leaving the hotel to jog over to City Island.  

Once there, I checked out the territory.  It remained very uncrowded, with plenty of space for everyone.  Hains Point on a weekend morning is more crowded than this was.  There were portapotties for the race, but rather than clustered together they were spaced well apart, with hand sanitizer banks near each.

A pre-race email had noted that the last part of the course in the parking lot had some rough pavement, so I checked it out.   Yup - that was pretty rough.  Torn up enough that I debated whether to pull out of the race and just do a workout near the river instead - with my recent hamstring issues I REALLY didn't want to retweak something.  But...I was here, and I wanted to race and needed the practice of racing, and it wasn't super bad, so I just resolved to be careful here even if it meant backing off a bit.

***

I warmed up with my now standard 3 minutes at half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort, and 4x10 seconds at mile effort.   The hamstring felt about 95%, which was good enough to give it a careful shot.   Once I felt ready to go and it was past 6:55, I headed up to the start area.   I hung around just outside, watching and waiting for someone who might be a bit slower than me to start, so that I could give them a lead and then chase them down.  But no such luck.    After waiting a few minutes, I decided it was time to go while I was still warmed up, so I nodded to the starter, and jogged up to the starting line and started.  One of the best things about these rolling starts is that you can get a flying start to your race.

***

I had looked at the course on paper, and had a general idea of how it went - a big loop to the right and then a loop to the left.  But...not being familiar with the area, I didn't realize how much the course would gently weave and wind.   There were signs, and plenty of them.  But it's surprisingly challenging to try to run at mile effort while also squinting at signs to see where you should go.    Lesson for next time - try to jog the course before.  Or if you can't, at least get a good tour on Google Earth.  (and also wear your contacts or glasses if you have them).

I also came to realize how dependent I've always been on something ahead of me when racing - either another runner or in very rare cases a lead bike or similar.  Something just to indicate where the course is going and to pull me.  Had I been familiar with the area at all, I think it would have been a bit different - I would have had some sense of where I was, and could have focused on landmarks and let them pull me (not as good as someone ahead of you, but something).  But...such is life and racing.

***

I had set my Garmin to click off splits every quarter mile, both so that I would have them for later and so I would know where I was.  As it turned out, there were quarter mile markers on course, but my Garmin didn't agree with them, so....  (the Garmin buzzed near the 1/4, a bit before the 1/2 marker, and way after the 3/4 marker).

Sometime after the 3/4 marker, I took a wrong turn - best illustrated by this picture.

There were two volunteers standing at the turn with flags, but nobody said a word as I followed the road around to the right.   I pushed up a slight incline, and then saw the starting arch.  Huh?

The only options for me were to run up a hill (that I had walked down to get to the start line, so I knew that wasn't right) or to run through the start line again, so clearly I was off course.  I stopped, asked one of the start line volunteers where the course was, and she pointed back the way I came.  So....back into race effort (or however close I could get to it) and back down to this turn to rejoin the course after confirming with the volunteers there where I should actually go....  

I did make a decent effort to finish the race strongly, but it was by no means an uber-dig deep thing.  I had come here to race, so I wasn't going to jog it in.  But at the same time between the broken up pavement and the course mistake I just couldn't justify hammering all out - I'd be risking injury for very little.

Crossed the finish line, stopped my watch, and realized that I had stopped my watch when I asked for directions. So...no idea what my official time was.  I'd have to wait until morning, when the results would be posted.

***

I'm actually not that upset about how the race worked out.  I'm not in great shape and was pretty sure I wasn't going to run a blazing time.  The whole point for me was getting to race again and getting a sense of my fitness.  I got to practice racing and work through some pre-race blunders (running too many miles the day before; bringing kinesio tape for my ankles but forgetting scissors), and I ran enough of the race to confirm that I'm pretty out of shape right now.  And the fact that I went off course so late in the race was also good.  There is a "moment of truth" that one usually has to work through around 2/3rds to 3/4ths into the race - I had already done that when I went off course, so I got that practice in.

So basically, I got what I came for.  And I got to experience what racing will likely be like for the near future - rolling starts and minimal support.  The biggest lesson I learned is the importance of being really familiar with the course you are racing over, since you may not have someone ahead of you to lead the way.   Not just to avoid the possibility of getting lost, but so that you can race your best.  I think that any bit of mental energy you spend trying to determine where you should go next is mental energy you're not dedicating to keeping your foot on the gas.  Best to know the course so you don't question, you just go.

***

I was a bit annoyed at first with the race volunteers for not directing the turn.  Not only did they not tell me which way to go, they also didn't yell out "you're going the wrong way" or something like that when I veered off.  It would have been nice to not have to ask for directions....

But on the other hand, this was a weird set up, where they had just single runners coming through with a minute or two gap between each, and I'm sure they had been standing there for several hours by the time I raced.  It had to be hard to keep up concentration and focus for that long with that little activity.   I just got unlucky.  But fortunately, it didn't happen in a goal race.

Other notes:

• It was 81 degrees with a dewpoint of 55 when I raced.  Which is great weather for racing a mile, albeit a bit too warm for racing anything longer than that.  The low dew point felt lovely.
• My Garmin reported splits were 92, 93, and 95 before I went off course.  I don't think those were perfectly accurate, but definitely not more than a second or two off.  
• While I'm really glad I did this race, I don't think I'll be back if they use this course again.   The pavement was a bit rougher that I would like for racing a mile on a good part of the course (not just the finish area) and I also had to cross some embedded train tracks at least twice.  At a slower race pace neither would have bothered me much, but when racing a mile it's good to have footing that you don't have to think about - either a track or a smoothly paved road.
  
• For a mask I wore a wide headband to the start line, pulled down so it covered my mouth/nose.  Pulled it up on my forehead to run the race, then pulled it back down after crossing the finish.  This worked well.  Except for the fact that it meant I couldn't wear my lucky headband with skulls on it.  Which is undoubtedly why I got lost during the race.
• Every time I go to Harrisburg, I'm reminded of how close it is to Arlington/DC.  It seems like it should be further, but it's actually closer to my home and a shorter drive than Richmond.  Heck - it takes less time to get to Harrisburg, Pa. from my house than it usually takes to get to Fredericksburg, Va.
  

Race Report: Fifth Avenue Mile, September 8, 2019

I ran the Fifth Avenue Mile today, finishing in 5:25, which tied my PR.

This was the grand finale in my series of road miles, which have served as both an early phase of my marathon training and a goal in themselves.  The Fifth Avenue Mile course was also the fastest course I'd be running on, since it has no turns, and only mild elevation changes.  And based on my previous performances on slower courses, I thought I had a solid shot of breaking 5:30 here, if I ran a smart race.

Of course, as sometimes happens, life threw a curve ball at me.   One of our cats, Quartz, started acting a little quieter than normal on Friday night.  She then had a sneezing fit overnight (which I slept through, but Brian didn't) and then had no interest in food or play in the morning.  That was my cue to run her over to the emergency vet on Saturday morning, where she had a temperature of 105 (normal for a cat is between 100.5 and 102.5).  They admitted her and ran some bloodwork, showing depressed white blood cells (but otherwise normal blood values).

I went back and forth on whether to skip my trip up to NYC for this race (my plan was to leave Saturday afternoon and come back Sunday early evening).  After checking the train schedules, I decided to go up, and just return early on Sunday.  It was a hard call, but she was stable and in good hands and what was important was that I was available by phone, not whether I was physically in Virginia.  Additionally, there were enough trains with open seats that if I needed to I could easily be back home within a few hours.

So...I hopped on my train up to New York, where I first stopped by the NYRR Run Center to grab my bib and shorts (this race gave out shorts instead of a t-shirt - odd, but whatever).  Then onto my hotel.  Once there, I set out my clothes for the morning, and double checked train schedules for Sunday.  My scheduled departure was 2:15 pm, but there were trains at both 9:05 and 9:45 am that I could swap to.    I knew I could make the 9:45, and had a good shot of making the 9:05 if I hustled post-race.  

After a restless night of sleep, I woke.  Ate my breakfast and did my pre-race stretching routine, and then packed up for a quick get-away post-race.  I also called the emergency vet to check on Quartz - they reported that she had done OK overnight, but was scared.  With that news, I decided I'd definitely try to get on the 9:05 if at all possible.

***

My hotel was a bit less than a mile from the finish line, which meant I was about 2 miles from the start.  This worked perfectly for my warm-up - I jogged about 2 miles (20 minutes - GPS is useless in Manhattan) and then did a warm-up of:
-3:00 at half-marathon/10 mile effort; 
-4x30 seconds at a bit faster than 5K effort with 30 second jog, and then 
-4x10 seconds at end of mile effort with 20 second recovery. 

 [this was a twist on my normal warm-up - I did everything slightly harder than normal because of the short distance of the race.  For a 5K, this would have been done at half-marathon, 5K, and first part of mile effort].

Then some drills, four strides, and with 8 minutes to go I started to think about loading into the corral.  I knew that I needed to start at the front; unfortunately, they were only allowing us to enter from the back, which meant I spent a good 4 minutes of that 8 working my way through the corral from back to front with a non-stop narrative of 'scuse me/pardon me.

But finally, I was there.  I noted a few other runners that I was familiar with, and one runner that looked a lot like Jen Rhines and was wearing an Adidas elite kit.   I lined up behind her.  She was lined up in the center but slightly to the left, which worked for me - my friend Boyd had tipped me off that staying in the center and slightly to the left was the way to go on this course - smoother pavement on that side.

***

We waited for a few minutes, and then we were off.  My plan was to hit a good rhythm the first quarter - "controlled aggression" was my mind set, and then start building as we hit the second uphill quarter.  Stretch tall and flow down the decline on the third quarter, relying on my downhill running skills, and then throw a 1-2-3 punch at the 1200m, 1400m, and 1500m marks - digging the way I did in the Liberty mile and did not in the USATF mile.

Like always, I was massively dropped in the first 200m.  Might-be-Jen Rhines surged way in front, which pretty much confirmed she was indeed Jen Rhines.  And a whole group went with her - there were probably about 20 women ahead of me.  It took some discipline, but I held my rhythm and let them go.  I've learned that road miles like this one tend to attract a lot of distance runners who don't understand that a mile is too long to sprint.  So...they sprint the first 200, and then realize their folly around 300-400 into the race.

(Of course, I'm talking like I'm an experienced mile specialist, when the truth is nothing of the sort.  But still, I'm guessing I've raced more miles than your average adult-onset marathoner, so I've got some experience.  Relatively speaking.)

And sure enough, people started spluttering around 300-400m in.  Which was also when we hit the small climb.  Which worsened the carnage.  I started my build here, weaving around ragged breathing runners.  I snuck a glance at the 400m clock and saw it clicking over 80 seconds, which was just about perfect.

As we approached the crest of the hill, I bumped up a gear to fly over the top, passing several more runners.  I felt in control, with a gear or two left, and I could tell from the the breathing around me that those that I was passing were in trouble.  I was starting to feel the pace myself, but I felt right on the edge of my control - I really wanted to slow down, but I also knew I had another gear left.

Similar to marathoning, I held my form and my rhythm, trying to relax forward rather than tense up.  Marathoning and miling are the same fable, just different fonts.  

During the third quarter, I reeled in another woman, and then there was only the far ahead pack in front of me, with a bit more than 400m to go.

(huge thanks to Jessica Chin for this video of me on the downhill (I'm in the red singlet)).

This woman didn't go down without a fight - throwing in a surge that passed me back just as we approached the 1200m marker.  This was very helpful, as it kept me fighting.  I stretched up and pulled her back in, and then gritted my teeth and dug a bit deeper at the 200m and 100m to go signs.  By 100m to go, I was just starting to tie up.  That was good - it told me I had paced this just about right.

(and thanks to Christy Peterson, the winner of this heat last year, for this video of my finish)

(the astute observer will note that I eased up at the finish, and didn't fight through both mats. Not good)

I got myself over the finish line - satisfied with a good race and a good end to this segment of my season.  My watch said 5:26 which meant I had just missed my PR of 5:25.  But I wasn't too upset - I would have been happy with anything under 5:30.

***

I said a few quick hellos and congrats while I caught my breath, and then jogged back to my hotel.  12 minutes later, at 8:15 am I was showered, changed, and in a cab on the way to Penn Station.  While in the cab I used my phone to officially swap to the 9:05 am train and check out of my room (as much as a curse as modern technology can be, it's still ridiculously handy).

I also finally had a chance to look up my splits for the race. They were 81/85/80/80 (using Garmin autolap).   I think the last split was actually 79, as I didn't stop my watch until I was well past the finish line. I was pretty happy with the pacing.  I would have loved to have closed slightly harder and a second faster, but this was still pretty good.

Other notes:

• The temp was 66, with a dew point of 56.  Felt absolutely perfect after a DC summer.
• Turned out that the Jen Rhines look alike was indeed Jen Rhines, who ran 5:04 to win the heat.  Neat!
• I finished fourth in the heat, and second in my age group (to Jen Rhines).  I'm pretty happy with this - looking at the results, that's realistically the best I could have placed this year.
• While this is unquestionably the fastest mile course I've run this year, I think my fast performance here is also due to the fact that I travelled up the day before, and didn't have several hours of driving and/or flying right before the race.  I also just run better in the morning.
• Something's blooming in Central Park right now - my eyes were watering and my voice was really hoarse.  Fortunately I don't think it affected my race at all.
• The best news of all was that Quartz improved massively, and I was able to bring her home on Sunday night.  Keep your fingers crossed for her, please.

Race Report: USATF Masters Road Mile Championship, August 23, 2019

I ran the USATF Masters Road Mile Championship in Flint Michigan on Friday, finishing in an official time of 5:38 - good enough for 2nd in my age group and 7th master overall.

This was another one of my day-trip-to-run-a-race adventures.  These trips always sound a bit crazy, but there's some benefits to doing them this way - less time away from home and work being the biggest factor.

In this case, I had booked a round trip flight to Detroit from DC, packaged with a car rental.  Downtown Flint was anywhere from 60-90 minutes from DTW, with Google estimating the higher end, while the race website promised about an hour.  [I later figured out that this was because Google bases its travel time estimates on the posted speed limit, while the race organizers considered how fast people actually drive on Michigan roads]

My plan was to fly to DTW, grab the car and drive to Flint, buy a day pass from the local YMCA (about 3 blocks from the race start)  and hang out there until it was time to race.  Post-race, I'd jog back to the YMCA, shower, and then drive back to DTW to fly home.

So....Friday morning started pretty early, with a 5:20 am start for my morning shakeout.  Jogged three miles, then quickly showered, grabbed my backpack (which contained my racing clothes/shoes, my pre-race breakfast, and a few essentials in case I got stuck in Michigan overnight).  I was out the door for the second time by 6:20 am, which was plenty of time to catch my 7:40 am flight to Detroit.

Once I landed in Detroit, I hit a kiosk to print out my boarding pass for the return flight (I don't like to use my cell for boarding passes - Murphy's law dictates that the phone will crash at the most inconvenient time) and then picked up my rental.  I noted that at DTW, the rental car lot was nearly a mile away from the airport, with a shuttle between the two.  Good to know - I'd factor that into my return time tonight.

Then I hit the road.  Since I had nearly 10 hours to kill before the race, I drove around the area a bit - grabbing an early lunch and also checking out one of the Hanson's Running Stores for the heck of it.  I also had an issue pop up at work, so I spent some time in a random parking lot on my cell phone managing that.    And then I drove up to Flint.

***

 I was vaguely familiar with Flint from the movie "Roger and Me" and the more recent water crisis.  What struck me when I arrived was how much it reminded me of southeast Washington DC about 25-30 years ago.  The best way I can describe it is that there's a distinct taste to the air - a mix of kindness, wariness, and despair.  Clusters of boarded up buildings, with a few occupied and lovingly maintained homes mixed in, sprinkled with crumbling sidewalks.

I navigated my way through downtown to the Convention Center, where I picked up my double bib  - race number to be worn on front and a big green "F45" bib for my back.  Then over to the YMCA, where I bought a day pass.  Upon hearing that I was in town to run the masters race, the attendant offered me the senior discount for the day pass.  Non-plussed, I went with it.  And then ducked into the nearest bathroom to eyeball myself head to toe.

I hung out at the YMCA, stretching, reading, and eating my pre-race "breakfast".  Then I headed out around 6 pm to start warming up.

***

I felt lousy from the start.  Not sore, just tired.  It had been a long day, and the combination of air travel, car rental, and driving had ended up being more tiring than a simple 4 hour drive.  As I warmed up, I reflected that this day trip to Flint probably wasn't one of my better ideas, and this trip was probably one and done.

But, I was here, so might as make the best of it.

I warmed up by jogging the mile course twice.  The course started with an upward incline.  After a left and a right turn, we'd then cross a highway overpass.  That was followed by two turns to the left and one to the right as we reversed direction, and then a straight shot home with a descent to the finish after crossing the overpass a second time.

I noted that the road was fairly chewed up.  Lovely.  I tried to see if there was a specific line I could take that would maximize the good pavement, but I couldn't really map one out.  I did note that on the two left turns, the very inside of both turns was chewed up, with some gravel to boot.  I made a mental note to swing a bit wide on these turns - it'd be faster to run a bit more distance but not have to deal with that footing.

I did my standard warm-up (3:00 at half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort; 4x10 seconds at mile effort) finishing up a bit after 6:30.  I still had about 30 minutes until the start of my race, but I knew the men's race would be starting at 6:45, and I wasn't sure when they'd be closing the course and/or where I could warm-up other than the course.   Then I jogged, did some drills, hit the bathroom, and jogged some more.  With 8 minutes to go, I did a few strides, and then lined up with the others.

I honestly wasn't sure where to seed myself in this race.  I knew I had a very low chance of contending for the win, and when I finished my strides, the front line was already set, including several women who I had heard of and was certain were faster than myself.  So...I set myself in the third row - close enough that I'd only lose a second or two of gun time.

As I lined up, I looked around, trying to mark all the other women with F45 bibs.  The unique thing about this race was that age group competition was very real, and a focus - another race within the race in the same way that masters competition is a race within a race normally.

***

Then the gun went off.  And...as sometimes happens, my legs suddenly felt fine.  "The gun goes off and everything changes."

Like always, going out at a measured pace meant that I was dropped by many other women.  But as we ran up the incline and then crossed the overpass, most of them came back, like always.  Including a number of F45s.

As we ran around the two left turns, I swung wide, per my plan.  Doing so allowed me to pass several more women who were hugging the curb and thus having to navigate the twin obstacles of the poor footing and each other.

Then we were heading back towards the finish.  I managed to run down another woman, and then eyed a pair about 2 seconds ahead.  I was running pretty hard, but still in control.

We passed a bit of pavement that I had told myself was where I'd start digging as deep as I had at Liberty Mile, but this time I just didn't.  Part of it was that the road was fairly rough, and I honestly didn't want a repeat faceplant.  I think also that I was mentally tired from the long travel day, and I just didn't have the mental reserve to find that extra sprint gear when I was already running so hard.  Perhaps if the two ahead of me had F45 bibs I would have gone.  But that wasn't the case.  So I just stretched up and elevated while staying relaxed, similar to how I close in longer races.

As I flowed towards the finish, I was picking up speed, but they were also, and so the gap didn't change.  I started tying up just slightly in the last few meters below the finish, so perhaps my lack of gunning it a bit earlier was a better decision than I'm giving myself credit for.

I crossed the finish, stopped my watch, and caught my breath.   In sharp contrast to an hour before, I was instantly happy I had run this race.  Funny how that happens.

After a few minutes of chatting with others I did a cooldown jog back to the YMCA, where I quickly showered.  [There was an awards ceremony for this race, which I would have loved to have attended, but I was concerned about making my 10:20 pm flight.]

By 7:40 I was in my car and pulling out of Flint for the drive back to DTW.  The drive back ended up being about 70 minutes, including a quick stop to top off the tank.  Then a shockingly quick pass through airport security - total time 15 seconds (credit goes to a combination of TSA Pre-check and a surprisingly empty airport).

By 9:20 I was at the gate for my flight, giving me time to confirm my official time (5:38 gun time) and placing (7th overall master, 2nd in 45-49).  I was happy with the age group placing, satisfied with the time on a slightly slow course, but slightly wistful about the 7th overall place.  Perhaps if I had gunned it per my original plan I could have caught those two and cracked the top five.

Or perhaps not.  No way to know for sure, but it's something to keep in mind for my next road mile, in two weeks.

Other notes:

• Weather was great - temperature of 70 and a dew point of 67.
• Splits per my autolap were 83/88/81/77 and then an extra 9 seconds.  So some Garmin error there.  Not surprising, given the turns on the course.
• Got home just after midnight Friday night, and crawled into my own comfy bed.
• Would I do this again?  Before the race, I would have said NO...but now....I'm thinking it wasn't so bad after all.  I'd just book a later flight in the morning, and not spend so much time touring Michigan before the race. So...maybe....
• Some helpful links for anyone interested in contributing to Flint: Community Foundation of Greater Flint; Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Flint; YMCA of Greater Flint.

Race Report: Fifth Avenue Mile, September 9, 2018

I ran the Fifth Avenue Mile today, finishing in a time of 5:36, good enough for 4th in my age group.

I've always wanted to do this race, but life, in the form of October marathons, has always gotten in the way.  Not this year, though.

Getting up to New York was an adventure.  I dislike staying overnight at races if I don't have to. It isn't due to finances or not sleeping well in hotels; rather, I just like my home and my boyfriend and my cats, and hate to be away from them.

So that's why I decided to do this race as a day trip.  Of course, a 9:10 am race in New York makes for an early DC train - 3:10 am to be exact.  Which in turn meant a 2:10 am alarm.  And a 6:30 pm bedtime.

(No - I couldn't actually drift off at that time.  But...my rule is: if I'm lying on a bed with my eyes closed, it counts as sleep.)

***

Sunday morning, I rolled out of bed at a time that I would have been getting home just 10 years prior.  With apologies to the cats for not feeding them and to the boyfriend for the noise of the unfed cats, I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and grabbed my bag.  About 40 minutes later, I was back asleep, curled across two Amtrak seats just like everyone else in the quiet car. 

My train got into New York about 20 minutes late, at 7 am, but I had built fudge time in my schedule.  I took the E train to 54th and Lexington (doing pre-run yoga on the station platform while waiting to save time) and then bought a day pass to the local Blink Fitness gym.

There, I finished my prerace breakfast, did some stretches, and then jogged over to the start to pick up my bib, where I ran into my teammate Phillippe (who very graciously checked the 5th Avenue Mile hat that was my race schwag in his own bag).

***

The weather, though not ideal for a mile race (drizzle and slightly chilly) was much much better than what we've had in DC recently.  An added plus was a slight tailwind.

I had packed a plastic poncho, so I wore that while warming up, tossing it right before the start.

For my warm-up, I did about 2.5 miles easy and then a half mile at 5K-ish effort, followed by drills and then two hard 200m repeats.  All with plenty of recovery in between, finishing up about 15 minutes before.  Then a mix of walking and relaxed strides until we were corralled at 9:02.

***

The gun went off at 9:10 sharp.  Like almost every mile race I've done, I was in 25th or 30th place after the first quarter.  But then, as we hit the uphill second quarter, many started coming back.  I worked my way through them, picking off one after the other, while trying also to not work too hard too early.

We crested the hill at the 800 mark, and then I rolled down the back side, trying to build speed and recharge for the final 400.  But when I hit the final 400 I couldn't find that top gear.  I had the gas in the tank, but no turbo.  I finished feeling strong, like I could have gone longer (but not faster). 

Despite the above, I was still pretty happy - I ran a stronger, more focused race than last week.  And this was a solid way to end my "marathon intermission."

***

After the race I was able to catch up with my former DC teammate Jessica (now living in NYC), my friend Steve from RWOL, and Phillippe, who also had a good race.  Then a cooldown jog, a hot shower at Blink, some Chipotle (of course), and back to Central Park to watch the elite races.

Thankfully several buildings along 5th Avenue were under construction.  Which meant scaffolding.  Which meant I could stand along the race course AND be sheltered from the rain. Win.

Then I grabbed the 3 pm train home.  A long but fun day, and worth it.

***

Splits were (garmin autolap): 83/88/83/81.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably push a bit harder up the hill in the 2nd quarter - I think I was too cautious there - saving energy to support a kick I didn't have.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this.  Slightly bummed that I was 4th in my age group (top 3 got awards), but I don't think I had another 4 seconds in me today (5:32 was third).

As for whether I'll do this as a day trip again next time?  It depends.  If I'm in really good mile shape next year at this time, I might go ahead and stay the night to maximize my shot at running a really good time.  But I don't think the early morning wake-up and train ride cost me much, if anything.

Other notes:

* Apparently for this race, if you miss your heat you can run in a later one.  Good to know if I do the train thing again and it gets delayed.

* Wore my Takumi Sens for this race - this is the distance where they shine.   I did see a few women in my heat wearing the Vaporfly.  None of them in front of me.  I can't imagine racing a mile in that shoe - even a mile with no turns.  But apparently they could.

*Wrote this race report on my phone on the train ride home (I didn't want to lug a computer with me). Worked surprisingly well.  I also grabbed an old school paper copy of the Sunday NYTimes so I'm going to enjoy that for the rest of the ride.

Race Report: Fredericksburg Downtown Mile Race for CASA, July 14, 2018

I ran the Fredericksburg Downtown Mile for CASA last night (twice) in 5:52 and 5:53.  The first race was at 6:15 pm in the women's over 40 heat; I then doubled back an hour later in the open heat.

So...I'm consistent, at least.

I really like to race just after coming off of a break.  To me, it's an especially pure and fun kind of racing, since you're free of the expectations imposed by training.  You just get out there and see what happens.

I also really like road miles, and wish there were more of them.  So...when I saw that there was a road mile in Fredericksburg, a scant 50 or so miles away, entering was an easy choice.  Fredericksburg is a lot closer than Pittsburgh, which was the last time I raced a road mile.

Of course, it's been a year since I've last raced the mile, and I've trained for and run three marathons in the space between.   But, I'm planing on focusing on this distance for the next few months, with the goal of placing well at the US Masters Road Mile Champs in Michigan in late August, and then hopefully PRing at the 5th Avenue Mile in early September.  So it made a lot of sense to just jump in and race this distance, and get familiar with it again.  It's the ripping a band-aid off approach to life.

***

The drive down to Fredericksburg sucked.  Because it involved I-95 in Northern Virginia, of course.  I had originally planned to drive down earlier in the day, and hang out in Fredericksburg and run some errands there (I could drop stuff off at the UPS store and buy non-perishables as easily there as I could here).  But, after seeing the traffic reports, I decided to hang out at home and wait until the early afternoon, when the worst of the southbound traffic had passed.

Note to self - not a great idea.  Because while the traffic was better on a whole in the afternoon, the toll express lanes switched from southbound to northbound.  I would have been better off just leaving earlier, and using the toll lanes.  So now I know for next time.

Just slightly less than 2 hours after leaving home (yes, ~2 hours for ~50 miles), I pulled into the Golds Gym of Fredricksburg, where I took 30 minutes to foam roll and stretch everything from the car ride before heading over to the race site to pick up my bib.  Actually bibs.  I had entered two heats just in case I felt like running both, but each heat required a separate bib.  So I pinned one on and dropped the other off at my car, hoping I'd have the presence of mind to remember to switch if I ran both heats.

***

Then I warmed up by jogging 3 miles, mostly easy, but with about a quarter mile pretty hard.  As part of my warm-up, I jogged the course twice to get a feel for it.  It rolled a fair bit, with a gentle downhill start followed by a solid climb in the second quarter.  Then do a 180 around a very small island in the road, and back down and then up again, before turning left to kick it in over the final 200 meters.

Strides, drills, chat with others, make new friends, more strides, and then we lined up.  I set my Garmin to autolap every quarter mile.  Not because I'd be checking splits during the race, but so that I had them after.  Also, since this road mile wasn't marked in between the start and finish lines, I knew I'd find the buzzing of the Garmin every quarter helpful.

***

The start of the race was a bit awkward.  They were attempting to time the start with a traffic light at some point down the course - I'm guessing for traffic flow purposes.  What this meant was that the gun was supposed to go off right after the light changed to green.  However, some of us (myself included) misinterpreted the instructions to mean we were supposed to start when the light turned green.  Thus,a false start.  After being called back to the line, we waited through another cycle of the light.  And then the light turned green and THEN the gun went off, and we were off.

As is pretty normal for me, I was dropped in the first 200m.  I knew that the downhill start would suck people out, and so I wanted to hang back a little before starting to build.  By the end of the first quarter, I was in second, around 5 seconds behind the first woman.    I decided to stay in contact with her, and then pull ahead when she started to struggle on the uphill in the last quarter.

So I pursued, running the uphill a bit more aggressively than I would have liked, but I never got closer than 2 seconds behind her.  And then we hit the last quarter, and it was I who started to struggle while she pulled ahead.  She won, leading wire-to-wire (major kudos for that), while I tied up in the last 200 meters.

As I approached the clock, I saw it counting into the 5:5x, and thought "that can't be right."  But it was.

***

After sitting and collecting myself for a few minutes, I went back to my car to grab my second bib.  I was still undecided on whether I was up for round 2, but I could jog a bit and then decide.  I also decided to change shoes, from my new Adidas Sub-2s to my much loved Adidas Takumi Sens.  This was as close as I would get to doing an apples-to-apples comparison of the two.

After jogging a mile, I decided to go for the second heat.  My legs were heavy and stiff, but how I feel before a race isn't a good indicator of how I'll feel during the race.  And it was also fun to try just as an experiment to see how I handled back-to-back races, in case it was helpful in the future.

So, I did EVEN MORE drills and strides, we lined up, and we were off.   Again.

The second race was, unsurprisingly, much like the first.  I was dropped and then worked my way up through people.  The fact that it was a mixed open heat meant that there were more people in the heat, which meant more people to start out ahead of me, and then be passed.  By the turnaround, I was third woman, with the first two women a good 8-10 seconds ahead.

I felt much better during the final quarter this time around, and was able to open up and hammer home.  The result?  5:53 and third woman.  And at least this time seeing 5:5x wasn't that much of a shock.

***

Splits for the two races were:

Heat 1: 85/91/83/90 (+2 seconds - Garmin claimed course was slightly long)
Heat 2: 87/95/84/88 (Garmin said course was right on - 1.0 miles)

Since I was using Garmin's autolap, and GPS isn't perfect, there's unquestionably some range of error included in these splits.  And no, the fact that my Garmin measured the course as 1.02 the first time and 1.0 the second doesn't mean that the course was magically reset between heats, or that the circumference of the earth is continually changing, or that I somehow didn't run the tangents.  It just shows that Garmins have a range of error, and are not perfect.

***

I found it really interesting that, despite running essentially the same time twice, the second race felt much better.  I think that this was in part the shoe change - the Takumi Sens just feel so much better at mile pace than the sub-2s do.  It might also be because I always feel best in the last rep of a workout, or because it was cooler for the second heat.

Or, as my coach pointed out, because I went out slower in the second heat....

I think the answer is all of the above.  So in my next mile race, I'm going to use my Takumi Sens.  I'll also warm up a bit more thoroughly - doing more than one hard 400 before the race.  And of course, I'll try to start slower.

Other notes:

• I'll confess I had naive hopes that I'd be able to run faster - I knew I wasn't going to PR, but I had felt surprisingly quick during the two Iwo Jima hill workouts that I've done since my post-marathon break.  My thought was that the leg speed I noted during the hill workouts would combine with all that marathon fitness and strength into a decent mile performance.  Nope.  Instead I ran a pair of personal worsts for the distance.  My take-away is that the strength needed to race the mile well is different from marathon strength.  Marathon strength meant that I could run the mile twice all out with equivalent performances.  But it didn't help me power through either individual race.  Noted.
• The above does not mean, BTW, that I regret doing this race.  I'm really happy I did it.  It was a lot of fun and now I've got my feel back for this distance.  I also now know what my current fitness is.  I don't like where I am, fitness-wise, but that's what training is for.
• Temps were 88 degrees for the first heat, and 82 for the second.  Hot, but I don't think it affected my performance.
• I wore my singlet instead of a sportsbra, despite the heat, to see if it would bother me any.  Truth is, it's much easier to pin a number to a singlet than to my shorts (which I have to do if I wear a sports bra).  And...I was definitely much less comfortable in the singlet.  But I also don't think it affected my performance any.  For a longer race in the heat, I definitely need to stay with the sports bra.
• I'm allergic to something in Fredericksburg.  My eyes started watering and I started sneezing during my warm-up there, and almost 24 hours later my eyes are still puffy and I'm congested.  I have no idea what it is, though.
• It kills me that I liked the Takumi Sens so much more than the Sub-2s.  I had really hoped that the Sub-2s would replace my Takumi Sens, since the latter shoes are over 3 years old, and have proven impossible to replace.  But, I only have 150 miles on the Takumi Sens so far, and they are Adidas Boost, which seems to last forever.  So maybe I can just use them for a few more years, if I save them for road miles.

Race Report: Liberty Mile, July 28, 2017

I ran the Liberty Mile in Pittsburgh, PA, finishing in a time of 5:33.86 by my watch (the official results say 5:34 chip time/5:35 gun time - which is consistent).

One sentence in, you're probably wondering some variant of "why did she go all the way to Pittsburgh to run a mile race?  Isn't she in the middle of marathon training?  In DC/Northern Virginia?"

You're not the only one wondering that.  Brian thought I was nuts.  (aside: I am.)  But this trip also made some convoluted/runner-logic sense.

***

I first heard about this race several months ago, when my one-step-up-from-imaginary-friend/RWOL forumite Sam mentioned he was running it.  I checked it out.  Hmm....a road mile.  I love road miles - they're one of my favorite races.  And this one had a separate masters heat with solid prize money.  The prize money was obviously a draw, but so was the separate masters heat - in many races I find myself staring at the women near me, trying to guess how old they are.  Not this time - every woman lined up would be a direct competitor.

The downsides, of course, was the distance between DC and Pittsburgh (just under 250 miles one way).  And the race also fell several weeks into my marathon training cycle.  While the race was on a Friday night, and some people might be able to get away with racing a mile on Friday night and a Sunday morning progressive long run, I'm not one of them.  Racing this mile basically meant a missed week of marathon training.

Oh well.  I had mentally placed the Liberty Mile in the "some other year" file, but ran it past my coach anyway.  And (somewhat to my surprise), he actually really liked the idea.  To him, the missed week of marathon training wasn't a negative but a plus - a good opportunity to take a break.  And this week was a good time to pull back a bit and have some fun - the real meat of my marathon training cycle starts next week.

***

So that was that.  Logistics were going to be a challenge, though.  I looked at flight and train schedules for Pittsburgh, and concluded that neither was a good choice.  More money than I cared to pay for something that wasn't a goal race, and the arrival/departure timing options were lousy also.  So I was driving.

Pittsburgh was also just close enough that it was hard to justify a hotel.  I would have booked a hotel if this had been a morning race, but for an evening race doing Pittsburgh as a day trip was doable, and the most efficient option from both a price and "spending time away from home" perspective.

So, I went to my back-up: Golds Gym.  I checked out the map, and confirmed that there was a Golds Gym right around the corner from the packet pick-up/runner's festival area (which was itself a block or two from the finish and start lines).  Excellent.  I picked up a free "travel pass" from my home Golds.  When arriving in Pittsburgh, I'd present this, sign some forms, and be a member of the Pittsburgh Golds Gym for the evening - meaning I could store my stuff in a locker while I raced, and shower there after.

***

The one thing that I couldn't plan ahead of time was the weather.  Which I wasn't that worried about.  I won't melt if I run in the rain, or blow away in the wind.  And heat/humidity aren't the factors in mile races that they are for longer distances.

But, as luck would have it, the evening of the Liberty Mile was also the evening that a "summer nor'easter" was to blow through, complete with lightning.  Ugh.  Lightning is one of the very rare situations where I won't run outside (the others are substantial ice and wind that is blowing trees over).  I really didn't want to drive 4 hours to find out the race was cancelled.

I debated, and decided to head up anyway.  Since the race was so short, they'd likely shuffle schedules or combine heats rather than cancel altogether - a mile race with heats has a bit more flexibility in timing than a single long distance race.  If the race was cancelled, I'd just head back home and do a 16 miler on Sunday after all.

***

The drive up to Pittsburgh had some challenging aspects.  I left home at 10:00 am (so as to miss heavy traffic).  Unfortunately, this was about the time the first of the heavy rain squalls moved into the DC area.    Just crossing the American Legion Bridge into Maryland was a miserable experience, and I-270 north wasn't much better.  Slogging through stop-and-go traffic in a downpour that was overwhelming my windshield wipers, that Sunday 16 miler was sounding better and better.  I decided that if things hadn't improved by the time I hit Frederick, MD, I was turning around.

But fortunately. somewhere north of Urbana, MD (just south of Frederick) the rain and the traffic eased.  And from there, it was a relatively easy and scenic drive.  I've never driven to Pittsburgh before, so it was a bit touristy.  I got to drive under a mountain, and that was really cool.

About 4 hours and 45 minutes after leaving DC, having refueled my car for the return voyage, I parked my car at the garage next to Golds, and then parked myself at Golds.  I hung out there or in the nearby Market Square, eating my pre-race meal, reading my kindle, and stretching, until it was time to warm up for the race.  It was overcast, but so far only breezy and light on-and-off rain, not the predicted apocalypse.

***

My heat was scheduled to start at 7:25, but I started to warm up at 6 pm.  This is very early, even for me.  My reasoning was that there was a solid chance the start times of the heats would be changed with little notice to work around the weather.  To that point, the race had specified that runners should be in the starting area 30 minutes before their scheduled race.  I inferred from that statement that the start times might be moved up by as much as 30 minutes with little notice, and so I planned my warm-up as if I was racing at 6:55.    If the race did start at the normal time, I could just extend my warm-up.  The nice thing about being in marathon training was that adding an extra mile or two to my warm-up wouldn't affect my mile race at all.

My warm-up was the same old mile warm-up.  Jog some miles easy, then run 2 segments of 30 to 90 seconds very hard.  Since I never feel good in the first interval of a workout, I try to get that out of the way before the race.  Then drills.  Plus some strides right before the race starts.

My heat did end up starting at the normal time, so I just repeated part of my warm-up again with about 20 minutes to go - jogging another half mile plus another 90 seconds HARD.  Then more drills and strides, and I lined up.

***

As I expected, I didn't recognize any of the other women on the start line, and thus had no idea how this would play out.  Since I was going for prize money, I needed to start very close to the line.  However, this was a mixed masters heat, and so there were men who were not prize money contenders who nevertheless would be faster than me.   In this situation, I always start in one "corner" or the other, so that I don't block others.

A group of women, all presumably going for the money, were grouped on the righthand edge of the line.  After thinking for a moment, I took the left hand corner.  This was for two reasons - one, I could see that about 50 meters ahead, the course narrowed from the right.  Someone starting on the far right could get blocked in there.  Second, I wanted to be able to run the first 5 or 10 seconds of my race ignorant of what the other women were doing, so I could set my own rhythm.

I could see the argument for starting on the right - the course does a U turn to the right at the half-way point.  But I decided the cost of the extra 5 feet I was adding to my race was balanced out by the benefits of starting on the left.

***

The course, from the USATF website.

***

With 10 minutes to go, we were called to the line.  About 2 minutes before the gun, the rain started to fall, again.  At least it wasn't heavy.  (and as it turns out, it apparently faded away during my race, since it wasn't raining much when I finished)

Then the gun went off.  I took a few quick strides to get off the line and out of the way of others, and then established my rhythm.  I wanted to come through the first 400 controlled before gently building.  After feeling my rhythm, I looked for the other women .  There were at least seven women, and likely more, in front of me.  As always, I briefly fought the urge to panic, reminding myself that leading a mile race in the first 200m was rarely a guarantee of success.  A mile can be a very very long race.  I'd stick with my plan to stay controlled through 400 before building.

Sure enough, by the time I hit 400m (this race has markers and clocks at the 400, 800, and 1200 marks) many of the women were starting to come back to me.  I did glance at the 400m clock as I ran by it and noted "1:18."  A bit fast, but it felt fine (I think in retrospect we may have had a tailwind).  If nothing else, I was glad I hadn't gone out faster.

Over the next 200-300m, I began to reel in the other women.  I tried to be patient, reminding myself that we still had a long way to go.  There was one woman in a black sports bra who kept pulling further ahead - she had been about 4 seconds ahead at the 400m, and her lead was growing.

There was really no debate about trying to catch her at that pace.  Either she was simply much faster than me, or she was going to blow up big time.  Regardless of which held true, my best strategy was continuing my own steady build.

This race has a series of three right turns in short succession at the halfway point.    Things got a bit dicey here as people interacted trying to hold "the rail."  Puddles and torn up pavement didn't help either.  I lost some pace here, but so did everyone else.  By this point, I had passed quite a few women, and was in fourth.  As we exited the turn and headed to the finish line (about 600 m in the distance), I picked up the pace yet again, and pulled past one and then the other.

There was now just black sports bra woman ahead of me, but she was way too far to catch.  I wasn't going to win female masters, but second was mine with a strong finish.   I reached for an additional gear, but it wasn't there - I had that weird "I could go longer at this same pace but no faster" feeling.  Oh well - my fastest was all I could give.

As I approached the last 200m of the race, I started to stiffen.  There was a pack of men just ahead of me, so I distracted myself with them.  They were slowing, and so I chased down as many as I could before the finish.   I found that, as I did so, my gait became more fluid.  Basically, I locked up when I was worrying about holding off the runners behind me, but loosened up when chasing those ahead.  So that's a note for the future - focus on what's ahead of you, not what's behind.

I crossed the line in second, satisfied.  It wasn't the masters win I had hoped for, but I had run a solid race - the first woman was simply faster.  I did note that I was nowhere near as trashed as I had been after my last two mile races this year.  I had to place my hands on my knees and catch my breath, but no wobbling over to a curb to sit down.  I think that echoes the same thing I noted during the race - I don't have the same speed in my legs that I did earlier this year (most likely due to marathon mileage), and so I couldn't hit quite the same intensity.

***

After the race, I hung out to watch Sam run the under-40 heat, and then the two elite heats.  I've never had the chance to watch the conclusion of a mile race of this caliber before, and it was amazing to witness from 20 feet away just how ridiculously fast Ben Blankenship and Emily Lipari can kick.

Then (after confirming my check for $300 would be mailed to me), I headed to Golds to shower and change, and texted Brian that I was heading home.  I left Pittsburgh at 8:30 pm - a bit later than planned because I stayed to watch the elite heats, but it was worth it.

The drive home was...a drive.  I had packed an overnight bag to give me the option of staying at a hotel if I started nodding off during the drive, but I was fine.  I'm usually buzzed for hours after an evening race, and this one was no different.

The drive itself was a bit tough - the further I was from Pittsburgh the worse the weather got, with wind gusts that rocked my car and puddles of water that yanked at my steering wheel.  All punctuated by urgent chirps from my cell phone informing me that yet another flash flood warning was in effect.  But I just eased up on the speed, telling myself I was in no rush.  I had streaming NPR on satellite radio, so a longer drive was just more time to catch up on world events (or soak in my wannabe east coast elitism, depending on perspective).

Interestingly, I also noted that the quality of the drivers decreased dramatically the closer I got to DC.  On the Pennsylvania turnpike and into western Maryland, there was a vibe of "we're all in this together."  Nearly everyone one was driving reasonably for the conditions - staying right except for passing; slowing down when the rain was at its worst.

Not so in DC.  Once I hit 270, the idiocy increased, and by the time I hit the beltway, it was epic.  Every accident I drove past was in the last 30-40 minutes of a drive that took a bit over 4 hours.  Had the drive been like that in Pennsylvania, I would exited and crashed at a hotel for the night.

But finally, I was home, arriving around 12:45 am.  Long day.  But a fun one, and I'm happy I did it.

Returning to the opening notes of this race report - some may say that spending nearly 10 hours of driving to race for about 5 and a half minutes is insanity.   I left my house at 10 am and returned at 12:45 am - so this race adventure took 14:45 hours.

Riposte: I have friends (doubtless the same ones who think I'm insane for driving this far for a mile), who run races in the middle of the wilderness that are 100km or more in length, and can take more than 20 hours to complete. My adventure took less time, and I undoubtedly feel better now and will recover quicker from my mile race than you feel or recover after your ultra marathon.  And I got to stay in civilization and listen to a lot of NPR to boot.

So there.

Other notes:

• This is a really well run race.  I've raced road miles before, but never one that was a major event, complete with finish festival, media coverage, elite field.  I definitely want to run it again.
• This race had signs and clocks at the 400m, 800m, and 1200m points, and also signs for 200m and 100m to go.  In a road mile race, when it's hard to judge where you are, that stuff is really helpful.
• Official conditions for my race were 73 degrees and rain.  As I noted above, I think it only rained for the first minute or so of my race before drying out.  There were gusts of wind from all sides, but I think we were sheltered enough that it didn't make too much difference.  The wet pavement and the bunching up at the half-way point turn were the biggest obstacles to a fast time.
• I'm both happy and disappointed with the time itself. I honestly had no idea what I was going to run - I have that 5:25 from earlier in the year, but that was with fresher legs, and was in clear, dry weather.  I would have liked to have broken 5:30 again, but it's not the end of the world that I didn't.  I had fun, and I've clearly retained much of my speed from this spring as I head into the heaviest part of the marathon cycle, so that's good.
• Broke out my Adidas Takumi Sen Boosts for this - best short distance race shoe ever.  I don't know what I'm going to do when this pair wears out.  (they only come in mens, and finding them in size 5.5 is just about impossible - I had to order this current pair from Japan.)
• I've tried to figure out for some time exactly what I love so much about road miles.  I think that it's the closest I ever come, from an adrenaline/emotional perspective, to my old days jumping horses at speed.    The tension at the start line tastes very much like what I felt when I trotted in the gate and heard "the beep" clearing me to start my round.  And the mile race itself is very much like a jump off - there's no time to question - you just react.  There's just so much more adrenaline in the mile, and (as a recovering adrenaline junkie) it's awesome to get a hit of that.