Miller's Mutual Mile Results

It was a beautiful Wednesday night on Front Street. Front Street runs parallel to the Susquehanna river. The sun was shining, the humidity was low, and the temperature in the low 80's. Ideal conditions for a personal record (PR) run.

After a failed attempt to enlist the aid of my family to attend the race, I left the house around 6:15PM to drive the half hour commute to Harrisburg for the race. Some of the races are boring for spectators, so I could empathize, albeit begrudgingly. My race for aged 45-49 year olds, was scheduled to begin at 7:45 PM. The sun does not set until around 8:30 PM at this time of year.

I was very fortunate to find parking at the YMCA on the 700 block of Front street, just one block south of the race finish line. I had allowed for 5-10 minutes of driving around the city for a parking space, but was very fortunate to find a spot immediately. I picked up my timing chip, a small circular black plastic disk and a tie strap. The race finish was the festive area, complete with a radio station trailer, beer drinking tent, kids inflatable bounce houses and a variety of walking costumed characters.

Since I arrived early I had plenty of time to make the twenty minute mile walk to the starting line at Maclay & Front streets. The race was segmented into heats by age group and as a result there was not a large crowd congregating at the starting line.

Much to my surprise, the starting times by age group were on time, as scheduled. My run went off at exactly 7:45 PM.

My first quarter mile split was 93 seconds or 1:33. I had planned on being at 1:45 for the first quarter mile. The good news was I was 12 seconds under my goal. The bad news was I could not sustain this pace for three more quarters and wind up with a 6 minute mile time.

I ratcheted down my pace for the next quarter mile. Not being a vehicle with gearing, I slowed down but did not know how much until the next quarter mile split.

At the half mile point I was at 3:19 - still 11 seconds ahead of my 3:30 pace. I ran the 2nd quarter in 1:46, a tick slower than I had set out to do. So far so good.

I ran the 3rd quarter of a mile in 1:47 and was at 5:06 seconds with only 1/4 of a mile to go. only nine seconds ahead of my goal. My 3rd quarter split turned out to be my slowest.

I finished the race at 6:54 - some six seconds ahead of my 7:00 minute race goal. I was elated at how well I performed. I placed 25th out of the 38 racers. In line with previous years, 37 of the 38 racers in my age group finished the mile in under eight minutes.

In a lot of respects, I am racing against area all-stars at events like these. There were no 'Sunday runners' at the starting line for this race. This is a little intimidating for me, but I maintain my focus on doing what I set out to do strategically throughout the race without any concern as to what my competitors are doing. I knew from my training and previous race history I was going to finish in the last third of the field for this age group.