Another race in the books. That's number three for the year. I've completed a (windy) 5k, a half marathon, and yesterday I ran my second 1 mile race.
I believe this is my third attempt at writing a blog, and I've finally figured out why I can't stay with it (besides my obvious lack of writing skills), is that I put myself onto too hard of a deadline considering I'm not a writer. I thought I would be able to sit down once a week, which doesn't seem like very much, and talk about what I've been doing. It's amazing how I keep forgetting I'm an introvert, and have trouble expressing myself.
On May 17, 2015 I ran my second half marathon, and later that evening I noticed on a running website I frequent that another runner from the same race had did up a race report. I commented on it, and he asked me to write one myself. He wanted to read a different point of view of the race, since I had finished runner up. I thought it would be fun and gave it a shot. It was actually pretty fun, not as fun as the race, but I enjoyed recapping everything that went on during the race. I'm going to try recapping the rest of my races for the year, and see how it works out.
http://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedRunning/comments/36m70u/race_report_2_2015_bluenose_half_marathon/
That's the link to the previous race report, which was about my second half marathon. The following is my report of the 2015 ANE Mile.
First off, ANE stands for Athletics NorthEast; which is a running/cycling club here in St. John's, NL. They are a great club who put off some really well run races (my particular favourite is the Cape to Cabot, which has sold out in less than 4 hours).
The 1 mile race is staged on a mostly straight stretch of road near probably the most popular lake in the city for exercising, and has a slight downhill, which makes it fast. This was the third year of the race, and going into it I felt my fitness was good enough for me to win. During warm up (if you can call it that, it was -1C with the wind chill that morning) I knew it would be hard, so I literally kept running around the area until 30 seconds before the gun went off.
I looked around and noticed only two people who I thought might be a challenge, and my confidence increased. Once the gun went I took the lead and hit my pace immediately (I felt that one week after racing a half, 4:45 for the mile was reasonable), and one of the guys I thought could be competition was on my shoulder. I stayed in front, and moved ahead of him about 500 meters into the race, and then I heard some more footsteps. They were on my right shoulder, and I knew he was still on my left a little, so I thought it was just someone pushing to jump on with us.
Turns out at the halfway mark two different runners split us and took the lead, and it kinda took me by surprise. I felt I was keeping on pace, and that I would pull them back in. I didn't want to counter that move for fear of pulling my hamstring (which I had felt stiffen up during the half), and let them go. Another 200 meters in, and it was evident that I wasn't going to catch them, and felt confident in holding onto third place. With probably 200 meters to go, I could hear the wind flapping the bib of the runner behind me! Oh no, I am not going to be caught, and I kicked and sprinted to the finish, and I heard the runner let out a big groan as I put distance between us. I crossed the line 10 seconds back from 1st and 2nd (photo finish; which happened the first year of the race as well) in 4:45 right on my predicted finish time.
I'm happy with my result all things considered, and I'm extremely happy where my fitness is right now. I'm going to be hitting my training again now for the Tely 10 in July, and then it's buckle down time for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October. I've been accepted as one of their Digital Champions, and I'm going to do my best to get people talking about the race. #STWM
