My Smokin' Mile

Tonight I ran my smokin' mile. It felt like I was smoking. Like for 15 years and I just quit yesterday. I can't remember when my lungs hurt so badly. I mean, a mile is too short of a distance to go tempo and to long of a distance to be just a sprint. Apparently, it might be worth training for the next time I want to beat my fastest mile. All I wanted to do was run in less than 10 minutes. I was pretty sure I could do that. So then I thought, ok - let's try for 9:30. I think I might be able to do that. But ok - let's not tell anyone in case you can't, but really, secretly it would be awesome to do it in 9. Less than nine? I can't even imagine my elation!

I ran the first 1/2 in 4:13. That's an 8:30 pace!!! Crazy! Well, everyone was going by me so fast that I wanted to run fast too. Also, I signed up with my age group and I'm glad I did. Even though 90% of my age group can run faster than me (it should be noted that included in the 29 and younger was 16 yo track stars and 21 yo cross country athletes - I'm 29, the oldest in the group. Tough competition) I was glad I signed up for the age wave. The general wave was packed and I think that would have slowed me down.

There were tons of people clapping which I was really surprised to see. Another good thing about being at the back in my age group was that I was running solo. The next person back was maybe 15-20 feet. So literally, the cheering, cowbell ringing, encouragement shouting was just for me. And the people after me, but at that moment they only had me to look at and cheer for. It was so cool!

A mile is tough. Did I mention that? I thought my lungs were going to explode. I was coughing and couldn't breathe well and just felt sick. I mean you are basically giving all you have for 10 minutes (or 4 depending on your ability). When I saw the finish line clock at the end it said 8:52. And I thought "Oh HEEEELLLLL NO!!!" I did not just bust my butt and risk a possible lung transplant to miss my 9 minute mile by only a few seconds. So I tore on. When I crossed I think the clock might have said 9:02, but wait for the chip time.....if I was just a few seconds off from the gun time I might just get it! Maybe even hit 8:59.

I think it was just startling to me how different 1 mile is than say, 13. I'd like to get better at the 1 mile someday. Distance running is not all that you need to do to run a fast 1 mile. Just because I can run 5 at 11 minutes/mile does not mean I can run 1 in 5 minutes!

This was fun. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!! I'll re-post when I get my official time.