4.6 Mile Race Report (10/8/22)
10/8/22 Race Report
This weekend there was a local race goes right by my house. Didn't really mean to peak for this race but my goal 10k was 2 weeks prior which worked out really nicely. I did have a cold for this but 90% of the symptoms were gone and it was mostly some light coughing.
I also had a friend run this with me who brought over a nice pre rolled joint. I told him I was sick and was going to do my normal routine of hitting my vape pen when he passed me the joint anyway. Something something don't try new things on race day oh well. Ended up getting far to high for what I would have wanted but I mean that kind of comes with the territory here.
Went out for a 2.5 mile warm up with 2 min at threshold effort. It was perfect weather for a race, about 55 and sunny, no humidity and not much wind. I actually felt horrible during the warm up, I think I overdressed or something and was sweating way more than I would have expected. It's also at the end of this that I really started to feel the high. Needless to say I'm was not feeling great about this race and actually had some concerns if I was going to make the entire 4.6 miles.
Dropping out isn't really an option so I was going to jog it out if I really felt horrible but I had to at least try and send it. There is a cash prize for top 3 and I knew there would maybe be one or two other folks that had a shot. I also saw someone who beat me at Baystate last fall by 8 minutes so I knew he was going to be with me for most of this if I could go.
Mile 1 (5:28): Gun goes off and 2 Highschoolers go out quick (classic) at about 5:10 pace for the first half mile. I went out with them to see how my body was going to respond. Every problem I had at the start just disappeared, legs felt poppy, I was nice and cool, cotton mouth gone (literally how tf?) and breathing totally in control. After the first half a mile everyone settled in. My "if I feel good" plan was go out at 5:30 and see who's left. My neighborhood and family are up on the right at about 9/10ths of a mile and the pack has already fallen in behind me now keying off my pace. Say hello to everyone running by and tell the Baystate guy "Hey man I ran Baystate with you in and you beat me".
Mile 2 (6:19) : This is where the fun begins. 1 mile straight up, 246 feet of elevation on this sucker according to strava and it certainly feels that way. Being the local it was actually super nice knowing every inch of the course I was running. I've never experienced that but I knew to run this off effort not that you really have any choice. I've ran it a bunch of times within long runs but I've never ran this hard. Strava's grade adjusted pace says it's worth about a minute faster than your split time but I wasn't even looking at my watch. Baystate guy was right on my shoulder and he tested the hill a little bit but I stuck with him. Eventually he just chills next to me for the remaining hill and we run off each other.
Mile 3 (5:16): What goes up must come down. I think we were both trying to get a quick rhythm going while also letting our breathing chill out from that climb. Baystate guy eventually tested me a little on the down hill and I went with his move. Ended up backfiring on him because I'm kind of lazy on the downhills and realized I actually got some more in the tank than I thought I gotta go. Finally started to separate at about 3.5 and couldn't hear his footsteps as loudly as before.
Mile 4 (5:05): I think this is my fastest mile split ever in a race. Obviously it's a kind of cheating thanks to the downhill but nevertheless cool to see some low 5s. I really felt the knowledge of the course helped here. We go shooting out of the downhill right by my neighborhood again (some people still here to cheer me on) and now am back on a road I run every day cresting the final incline. At this point I know it's my race to lose.
Final .6 (5:01): At this point I've crested the last minor hill in the race and it's all downhill from here. I catch back up to my family who was walking to the finish before they even made it but they stop to cheer me on. Check over my shoulder and I finish 12 seconds ahead of Baystate for the W.
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