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Tag Archives: 1 Mile

RACE REPORT: 084 5th Avenue Mile – 4:57

Posted on September 23, 2012 by admin Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 7 Comments

1 Mile, from 80th Street to 60th Street, down 5th Avenue. No turns, just a straight shot of blistering speed right to the lungs. It hurts but is over just as fast as it began.

This was my 3rd time running it and I was a bit nervous. I was chatting to some of my runner friends about this last night. I wasn’t nervous about finishing the race, or running it close to what I might be capable of. What was on my mind, and many others, was would I be able to beat my previous mile time of 4:59?

After a quick jog over to the Start I left Abbe at her corral (Wave starts based on gender and age) and I ran down to the Finish. (It was only 1 mile away.) I ran into Erica and Lora and we had some quick runner talk before wishing each other well and setting off.

As the Women (aged 19-29) came blasting down I watched for Abbe but lost her in the masses. I did, however, see Robin blazing a path! Nice work.

I found Abbe at the Finish and she had accomplished her goal of breaking 7 minutes with 6:38!

She took my position cheering and I ran up to the Start. (It was only 1 mile away.)

It was quite humid out so I grabbed some water before running into Josh, Elyssa and Bojana. We high fived, of course. Josh and I left the gals to their corrals we did some sprints while chatting. We took our place behind the gals as soon as they set off.

Josh and I were probably 50 people back from the Start mats. As the gun went off I counted down how long I had to cross the mat (to subtract it from my clock finish) but I was so amped I kept counting while running and messed up the plan.

I cut hard left and took off, passing a large chunk of the masses. The corrals are not based on speed so it’s always a mixed bag. Moving ahead I passed this guy, then he hung on maintaining pace. Not to judge or tease, because I am happy for anyone who wants to exercise, but home slice had on basketball shorts and may have been wearing high tops. He inspired me to speed up because his foot falls sounded like he was trying to break the concrete. It was like a ‘foot belly flop’ every time he hit the ground. Quite annoying, so I sped up.

The uphill at the halfway point definitely took some spunk out of my game. I tried to just maintain whatever pace I had, which I was unsure of since I wasn’t wearing a watch.

At the crest of the hill I tried getting my heart rate to cool it. I think it worked as I blasted down the decline with ease. It was here that I heard my name being cheered on a few times! Turns out it was my friend Robert. Thanks for the pics man!

As I approached the final 3/4’s of the mile I felt great and got fired up. I also saw Abbe, Elyssa, Erica and Lora off to the side screaming my name which helped tremendously. Just like previous times, even though you can see the Finish and it seems like you’re cruising, it takes an eternity to reach it. All the while watching the clock tick off those precious seconds… 4:50, 4:51, 4:52.

I crossed the Finish at 5:02 but knew I had some sort of buffer based on my start. Later that day when the times were posted I learned that I had a 2 second PR with a time of 4:57!

Sex/
Age
Bib Overall Place Age
Place
Finish
Time
Pace/
Mile
AG %
M34 369 117 27 4:57 4:57 76.3%

So now next year will be extra stressful trying to top that. It’s funny how just one second can be such a big deal in a small race like this.

Congrats goes out to all my friends who ran today! It was pretty glorious for everyone. Oh and double ups to the winner, Matt, who beat out Bernard by .2 seconds with a 03:52.4. That, is fast.

 Post race lunch with a friend.

1 Mile 5th Avenue

RACE REPORT: 048 5th Avenue Mile – 1 Mile: 4:59

Posted on September 27, 2010 by admin Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 10 Comments

This weekend would mark my second time running the famed 5th Avenue Mile. To my surprise, last year I ran a 5:01, and this year, I wanted more than anything to go sub 5. Putting this goal in my head would stress me out and haunt my thoughts all week, right up to the race.

—

Saturday morning I went for a 20 mile bike ride on my track bike to get my quads in gear. Since the bike can’t coast nor are there any brakes, you rely on your legs to slow down and stop, making it an ideal pre-sprinting workout.

Later that night Erika and I met at a German restaurant to have some beer and snacks (it’s almost Oktober after all) and then head over to see the play ‘Brief Encounter’. I would recommend the play as it’s a short 90 minute trip to 1938 with a few great musical numbers, although it’s not going to be winning any Tony Awards.

RACE DAY

Since my heat was to start at 10:15AM I didn’t even set my alarm! What a refreshing difference it is to wake up for a race when the sun has already risen!

I ate some Irish Steel Cut Oats and had some Cafe Bustelo before heading out the door. I walked Erika to her start (she was to go off at 9:30) before heading down to 72nd street to cheer.

What an exciting day for spectating! Only second to the NYC Marathon itself. Every 15 minutes a wave of speedy runners comes zipping by! I got to see Steph, then Erika cruising down 5th, me yelling at them to pick it up!

On my way up to my heat I ran into Erin and then Elizabeth (who took this silly pic of me at the start).

Pre-race I did a quick run up to 84th and back down again where I ran into my friend Sebastian. He’s a really fast runner. We became friends last year during the Knickerbocker 60K when we ran the first 3 or 4 laps of Central Park together.

Getting into the corral I was far left and maybe 4 guys back. It was right where I wanted to be.

SIDENOTE: It’s funny what happens on game day. All week I had been questioning myself… could I really run a sub 5 mile? Last year I was 2 seconds off, but had I trained well? Did I eat a good breakfast? Were my legs and heart ready to go in overdrive? It would all be over so fast, and then there would be 1 year to think about the outcome.

The gun sounded and we all took off. I crossed the start mat about a second off from the gun time, which would play into my results later.

As we cleared the start, the Avenue opened up and I shot far left, passing a handful of people before settling in. As we hit the 1/4 Mile marker at 1:10 I was thrilled, but focused and kept pushing forward feeling great.

Between 1/4 Mile mark and the 1/2 Mile mark is a gradual uphill which you would think isn’t that big of a deal, but trust me, it is. Anything that slows you down by even 10 seconds in a 1 Mile race is a huge factor. Swinging my arms like a mad man, I hit the apex and the 1/2 way mark at just about 2:25. Once again, I was happy, but knew it was only going to get harder.

The group of 30 or so runners I was in was now spread out like a flock of geese and I was on the far left wing holding on. I could barely see the leader of this flock as by now my vision was blurred and I was red lining in overdrive. The triangle started to tighten up as the 3/4 mark hit. I still thought I had this sub 5 thing locked.

400 Meters to go may not seem far, but it is an eternity in this race! The crowds were now thick and cheering us on, although I barely took notice. It’s as though all of my life support functions and senses rerouted everything to my legs, lungs, and heart as my hearing and vision were totally out of whack. Slow motion would be a good description… everything was moving in slow motion.

As I hit the 200 Meter mark I looked ahead to the finish and my heart sunk. The clock read 4:50! How had I lost those precious seconds I thought I had captured in the beginning? My dismay turned to quick anger at the thought of not fulfilling my goal and I got pretty fired up.

With 10 seconds to go, I threw down the clutch again into some unknown gear and blasted forward, my eyes on the clock the whole time! 4:52, 4:53, 4:54 and my heart was on fire, lungs burning. As the clock went from 4:59 to 5:00 I took my last step and bolted across the finish, unsure of my exact time. I was excited, but not quite ready to celebrate without knowing my time.

Sex/
Age
Bib Overall

Place

Age
Place
Finish
Time
Pace/
Mile
AG %
M32 274 131 30 4:59 4:59 75 %

The walk home was rough, my lungs burning the whole time. Many of my runner friends experienced this as well. I think it was the cooler weather compounded by high speed racing.

Later that day I was hanging out at Dorrian’s Bar with my brother, his girlfriend Allison, and few others as the final times came in. Scrolling down the listing there it was, 4:59 on the dot! I threw my hands up and yelled out, a big smile on my face. Everyone at the table thought something related to football had occurred, until I explained my crazy runner excitement! Relief rushed over me. I had accomplished my goal.

I left and met Erika at Dinosaur BBQ to celebrate. She also ran the race and did great with a 6:26 pace! It was the perfect ending to a triumphant weekend.

—

This race to me, represents the concept of ‘goals’. It’s the perfect race for it, as it’s a mile. All of my friends who were out there racing today, from fast to slow, all set a goal that they wanted to achieve. It really makes me proud to be friends with such a dedicated group of people who all take time to go all out and give it their best! Just watching the twitter feed all day was enough to motivate and inspire anyone! Congrats to everyone who raced this weekend whether it was the 5th Avenue Mile, the Newport Liberty Half Mary, or a 100K Ultra!

1 Mile 5th Avenue Mile New York City
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  • VIRTUAL RACE REPORT: 156 #TCSNYCMarathon – 3:13:44
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