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June 23, 2005
The Mile
For most of us the mile was our introduction to distance running. Whether in a kid's fun run or the gym class in junior high, the mile was probably where most of us realized that we might not be able to keep up with the fast kids in the 100 yard dash, but could churn out lap after lap. The mile is what we base our pace off of in races. In reality, it is what all of distance running comes down to. J swears that in order to get better at the longer races, you have to come back down to basics at some point. That basic is the mile.
For most of the summer we are planning to do prediction miles every other Thursday. Somebody who is injured will come and be the official timer. He or she will give quarter splits and then we are on our own. To make things fun, everyone throws a dollar into the hat and the closest to the pin wins the cash. We do the usual warm-up, then once at the track, do 4 100 meter striders with a 300 jog. We all get together again for the mile run. The mile is not meant to be a race, although most of the people there treat it like race. In reality it is supposed to be run like the first mile of a 5K, maybe a hair faster, but not a mile race. Immediately after the mile run, we are supposed to jog a lap and then go into two or three striders again.
I won't go into the details of the actual mile run. My guess was 5:44, I really only thought I could run about 5:50, but I usually end up running faster than my guess, so I took a few seconds off. My quarter split was 84/85...it didn't feel too terribly fast and I tried to maintain that pace. I was slowly closing in on T, he went out way too fast as always, but couldn't quite catch him. My moment of weakness was not on the third lap, but on the backstretch of the fourth lap. Immediately after the mile I went into my lap jog, unlike everyone else who was standing around.
I ended up in third on the prediction. My mile was 5:46, so I was happy with that. I felt like I could have run at least another half mile at that pace. This is giving me some confidence that my speed is slowly coming back to me.
After the workout we went to the local running store for the annual clearance sale. This is our opportunity to buy last year's shoes for anywhere between $20 and $40. I bought a pair of shoes, a sports bra, a pair of shorts, and a vest for a total of $80. I never do well on shoes during this sale since he only brings in two pairs in my size of the shoes that I like and I end up with both of those pairs. In fact he has had to special order them for me because the Mizuno Wave Rider is my shoe. I never stray from it...it works for me.
Tomorrow is Friday!!!
Posted by Blondie at June 23, 2005 10:31 PM
Comments
Blondie,
I'm catching up and blogs and just wanted to say hello and congrats on the $75 prize in your recent race. Gotta love the money! Hope you're doing well.
Posted by: MandM at June 24, 2005 01:36 PM
Great job on the mile and feeling like you could do another! And how come I can never find any of these awesome sales?!
Posted by: Leilani at June 25, 2005 07:46 AM