Excluding a few injury-bound years over the past 35-40 years I have raced or time trialed a mile or 1500m almost every summer. Going back to the mid 1980s I think I missed 1997, 2002 and 2003 due to injury and maybe just skipped 2015 and 2016 because I was focused on other distances. Running a mile all out is a good benchmark, but I don’t always like it.
I actually enjoyed racing the mile from the mid-80s to early 90s, and learned to embrace and channel any pre-race anxiety into excitement and running at top end speed for some four and a half minutes.
However, I was never a star miler, and never even came close to breaking 4 minutes let alone 4:20. My altitude converted all-time best converts to a more modest 4:26.
Colorado Mile Season
July and August are mile season in Colorado. Each week you can find a couple mile/1500 m races on the Front Range. I opted out of some of the bigger ones this year. I started with Boulder Road Runners (BRR) summer track and field series 1500 m on August 4, and the Carnation Mile in the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge nine days later. The 1500 went better than expected and I decided to enter the mile at final BRR meet on the 18th.
The Carnation Mile
This was a low-key road mile on 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge, on a point to point course. We had an 8 AM start on one of the hottest weekends of the year. We arrived early and I jogged the course to get a feel for the course. It was fairly flat but had a couple of low grade slopes at about 1/2 mile and at about 3/4 until the final block before the finish. The course only gains 21 feet in elevation, but at 5,400 feet in elevation those small risers were the main factor.
In the middle of my warm up, at about 7:35, the race director announced there would be a delay due to some issues setting up the automatic timer at the finish line. So I wrapped up the last few minutes of drills and strides and waited. 8 o’clock rolled around and passed, she announced they were still working on it. I did not want to have an over extended warm up so like most everyone just stood around waiting, figuring we’d get a 5 minute heads up.
Nope. At 8:15 they said to line up, they were ready to go. I had enough for a quick half block pick up and jog back. Maybe 30 seconds of moving and they lined us up. They had a wave start format, not unlike mid-pandemic, 25 per wave based on estimated finish time. I submitted a 5:30 and was seeded 13th (#13 on the 13th), and was hoping to run mid-low 5:30s and maybe win the masters division and $75.
The race
No gun, and she just said rather quietly on your marks, set, go! We had a wide street to ourselves, and unlike in single or double file as in a track race we were spread out across 60 feet of boulevard.
Former US champion road racer Fernando Cabada (2:11 marathon personal best) took off like he had a rocket pack and everyone followed. Even though I was a ways back I think my first couple hundred meters were fast. By a third of the mile, however, I could feel that my legs were tightening already. And breathing wasn’t great. The finish banner looked no closer than when we started and I knew that the next 3 minutes would not feel good.
I had noted a spot about a half mile from the start but did not check my watch. The banner was still a long way off. At least a minute or more seemed to have gone by and I figured we were approaching 3/4 mile so I did peek at my watch, 0nly 0.64–this was proving to be tough. And I knew I had little or no acceleration in my legs, and lungs were starting to burn.
Up the small incline and I could feel my pace drop off, no doubt to over 6 minute mile pace but there wasn’t much I could do about it. With Cabada far into the lead, a group of about six runners had pulled far ahead and were stringing out. I gradually passed two runners over the final third of the course, but the going was slo-mo. Finally, with just about a 0.1 mile to go, with the finish in sight, and more favorable terrain (flat), I accelerated the best I could.
Aftermath
Finish result: 8th in my heat (would finish 9th for the day as a young high school runner from a later heat ran faster), and 5:42.8. Third masters, and had netted a $25 envelope of cash and three carnations. My time was a good 5-10 seconds slower than hoped, and wow did this hurt more than most races.
I was once scolded by a former elite runner for discussing “hurt” and “pain” in a race, and he said I should coin it more as discomfort. For the most part he was right and for the past 25 years have taken that admonishment to heart. However, within a minute or two after crossing the line–and running through a lot of discomfort over that final half mile–I felt pain. In my stomach, throat, and chest. I started dry-heaving, and then my throat and chest seized with some asthma. The air quality was unfavorable with high ozone that morning and I think that’s what got me.
I couldn’t run for about 20 minutes before being able to jog lightly to the car to use my inhaler. Tamara and I used the winnings for breakfast. By the time I did a mid-day shakeout high up in the foothills, and away from the city air, I felt fine.
Post hoc takedown
This was a fun community event starting on the Carnation Festival parade route, and I hope that the tradition can continue and the race can grow. Offer prize money and good runners will show up!
I was disappointed in the time, and yes a bit surprised to undergo some discomfort that spilled into some actual pain (may 5 on a scale of 10) for 10-15 minutes following the race. I wondered how much faster would have if we had run the opposite direction. Maybe 5:32? 10 seconds seemed like a lot and I didn’t express that out loud, or online.
Boulder Road Runners Track and Field Series Meet #6, Boulder Colorado.
Thursday evening. I had been in a dark funk for the previous 24 hours and that only grew as the day went on. I even posted online that I now hated the mile and it was time to hang it up. I wasn’t having fun.
Arrived at Potts Field at 5:30, it was 85 degrees and sunny, with just a light breeze from the northwest. The CU Boulder campus under the Flatirons is always a nice setting so my mood lifted a little, and a bit better upon along seeing a couple of my teammates. We would be running a 4X400 relay later and that’s actually more what I was looking forward to.
Still, I wasn’t really looking forward to this mile.
I’d be in the slower heat and wasn’t sure what I would do, maybe 5:35-40?
After a warm up and strides, I lined up with the second fastest seed time in this heat, with a young girl on the inside and a 40 year old masters runner who had finished just ahead in the 1500 two weeks earlier. With 19 runners in the field I did not want to get tangled up, so as we waited for last minute instructions I decided to go out quickly for the the first 80-100 meters.
The race
The young girl in lane 1 started quicker than I did over the first 20 m and took the lead, and the masters runner tucked in behind her. I could sense others on my heels but I was firmly in 3rd over the first lap, the pace didn’t feel too fast or too slow. The lap clock was broken and no one was calling splits but I got a quick look at my watch at about 405 meters, and it was just turning to 81. Maybe a bit faster than I had planned but drafting behind others makes the going feel a bit easier. We rounded the third turn and on the backstretch straightaway the masters guy took over the pace, and I followed.
Another masters runner (just turned 60) was right behind me and the announcer said that the three of us were pulling away from the field. I just tried to relax through the second lap. I didn’t get an actual split but my watch timer was at 2:46 at half-way. Sometimes in the mile I feel a burning sensation in my legs on the second lap, as the lactate builds. On Thursday I felt fine and at 900 m in, I could sense that the leader was slowing, so I took over, and just ran to see what I had. Focused on my form and popping off my feet while running relaxed as possible.
I don’t specifically train for the mile, but through much of the year do some 15-20 second pick ups or strides while on a run or just after a set of longer reps or tempo run. So I’m not unfamiliar with the effort and biomechanics, just not used to holding that pace for several minutes at a time.
The sound of footsteps behind had fallen back.
Over the last lap I planned to wind up the pace every 100 m over the last 300, like I did in the 1500 two weeks earlier. But this time there wasn’t much acceleration left so although my effort increased, the pace didn’t. As always for the mile the final 100 meters were grueling.
Post hoc takedown
Crossed the line in 5:26.9. My best mile result since a 5:26 at the Pearl Street Mile in downtown Boulder in 2019. I only ran 5:33 in 2020 (solo time trial) and 5:33 on the track in Denver in 2021. This is encouraging for a number of reasons.
Summer of 2019 was the last time I really felt sharp and in shape, so to run a time in the same ball park now three years later was a surprise. Age grading it’s my best mile ever, 87.74% using 2020 factors, and if you account for the altitude 90.17.
After all of that negative thought for the day leading up to the race, as soon as the starting gun fired I just put it on autopilot and ran by feel.
So now will I quit doing the mile? Ask again next year.
4X400
Doing the end of season 4X400 was the big draw of this meet and the part I most looked forward to. I had more than an hour of recovery. Eight teams lined up under the twilight, most had funny names. At 60+ we were named “No Grabby Hammy” and running a 400 at our age you don’t want to pull anything.
I only have a sketch our splits, as my fancy watch did not record them, but Tim opened with a surprising 62-high. Mark brought it back with combined 2:12, I didn’t get Adam and my split but think it was at about 3:25 when I got the baton and crossed the line with a lap to go. Sprinted for 50 m, eased up a bit for about a 100 and then tried to accelerate slightly. I think I slowed on the homestretch. We crossed in 4:33.9, 5th place, which was about 20 seconds faster than we had anticipated.
rrunnin234 