I won a (very short, very small) Race, (with the help of a Super Chicken-Head pacer)

That is an exaggeration.

**Warning: Short race, long report

Skip to the bottom if you just want the finish time**

The race: 
The Eugene Celebration Mile - Eugene, OR

Fear, doubt, backing out and "incentives"

I almost didn't do this race for several reasons.
First, I was a little leery of spending money for such a short race. It's so short that if things don't go well, the money's spent and there's no time mid-race to make much adjustment.
Secondly, I am very inexperienced still at short distances. I have only ran on a track for a mile once as an adult last year. In high school we did the mile-and-a-half timed test once a year for PE. That's my track background.
Also, It's been a  long session of training since my last race, with very few rest days . I finally took a rest day yesterday, though, because I thought my ankle might be getting a bit "twingie".


Interestingly, after my last blog post, one special friend emailed me and offered to pay my entry if I didn't PR. Ha! No pressure there!!
Finally, curiosity got the best of me. I decided that I might never have such a great opportunity to run a fast mile for an official time again. You really never know when your running days might come to an end, or other things in life might need to take over.

I don't want any regrets. Yes, I'd have passed if up if it was more more than 25$, but I was willing to throw that much away today.

Pre race:
I arrived way too early for this race. This never happens. Maybe it should more often.

They were still setting up the tables for the 9:50 race at 7:40 when I got there. What can I say? Someone else was watching the kids! I knew I need to warm up, but not for 2 hours. I sat in my car and listened to the radio.

I had already eaten a bagel and half a banana, drank coffee w/ sugar and milk, and quite a bit of cola Nuun.

I went back to the tables, now set up, and payed my entry fee. Now I couldn't back out!

I looked for a port-a-pot. Would you be surprised if I told you there weren't any for a mile race? Nevertheless...I was glad that the race start was situated conveniently next to Starbucks.

I went for a warm-up run and cruised part of the course and headed to the U of O campus, circled around the cemetery and back for a total of about 2.5 slow miles. With less than 5 minutes before the race, I did a few short strides and lined up near the start with the other racers. I was surprised how FEW people there were! I set my watch and had no problem getting a spot on the start line.

Race time
I had some goals written on my hand for each 1/4 mile, based on the running calculators. But they were really just optimistic targets. I didn't set any alerts on the Garmin this time- I just put it on the screen for current pace.

The RD explained to the racers that they had rolled (measured) the course 3 different times and that it was accurate to within an inch. There was also a small distraction with a man who had some pro-life signs slightly in the road. The police asked him to move to the sidewalk.

I suppose I had the immortal words of Steve Prefontaine in my head.

"The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die."

When the gun fired, I did my new "usual thing" and went out way too fast.


My first clue was when we got to the 1/4 mile, there were only a handful of guys ahead of me still, and one of them was wearing a yellow cape, and yellow helmet with a chicken strapped on it! I figured anyone wearing that kind of costume must be VERY fast-and VERY cool. He was.

I put on the brakes a smidge, realizing I could not sustain the pace. Then I let ChickenHead pace me.

I watch many men passing me at this point. I was OK with that, and I think I may have caught a few later. 

We rounded a corner with crowds cheering. I could hear things being said about the chicken and shouts for me! For such a short and small race, there was a load of crowd support!! It's great to run a race on a parade course right before the parade! :)

In short time, I could see the flags waving at the finish line and tried to maintain speed. My unplanned mantra while running was, "You can die after you cross the finish line!"

  

I ended up with about a 5-6 second difference between my first half mile and the second- positive splits. 

And, since there were so few people, and the 5:30 ladies didn't show up this year, I ended up first female in 5:41 a new PR!

Chicken-Head was a GREAT pacer. Super fast and super nice!

I spent some time cheering for the other finishers and eating the snacks & water provided. 

I met some new people and had plenty of time for visiting and talking about races with them.

There were medals for the winners and I received a free entry to the Turkey Stuffer 5K in November!

Post race
Afterwards, I went for a run to cool down and reflect on things near the Rexius trail. But after about 20 steps, I realized I might get my shoes dirty and went back to the pavement, ha!.  Not a trail runner today...


Final thoughts
I am SUPER happy that I decided to spend the money on this SHORT race today and got plenty of "bang for my buck". Thanks to the friends I have here who have had confidence in my racing and encourage me. Again, God was gracious to let me run and I am thankful! 


BIG thanks to my SUPER MOM and DAD for watching the kiddos while I was racing (and my hubby was busy tracking elk- Go get one honey!!)! 


A few photos from their day today:

Levi with a grabbing wolf head. Here comes trouble!

Serious fishing done again!

Would you pay $20-$25 to race ONE mile? And R is for ________.

Random

• First off, I am EXCITED that my son (age 6) was Baptized on Sunday during our outdoor church service. He has been asking about if for a year. My hubby and I held him off a bit- but when he had the chance, he jumped at it. What a wonderful feeling to know that he has taken this step in faith. Before he was submerged in the river, he was asked why he wanted to be baptized. He said (to a crowd of people) it was because he wanted "to be God's son and he wanted to follow Jesus". I am a very happy mom!
• In other exciting news, we are currently a wildlife refuge for several new tadpoles, two GIANT beetles, and a lizard. Izard the lizard lives in a plastic tote on my kitchen table. The tadpoles are kept in a turtle pool in our yard (in case you wanted to come get a few...Just call ahead so I can mow the weeds and pretend like I am keeping things up around here.)
• I wish I could show you some photos of the new pets and our river excursions, but my camera isn't behaving. I turn it on and the screen goes black! Then it tells me that the batteries are exhausted (when they are new. Not sure what's going on there, but I might try to replace it.

Rambling about Repetition Workouts & other running
It's a little strange not to be running a long run over 2 hours. I am trying to stick with Daniels' outline for 5k-15k training. And, to be totally honest, it's not too hard to say..."Meh. I don't need to run 18 miles for a long run." when your legs feel shot from doing 3 days midweek of threshold, interval and repetition work.

After the last race, I have a new VDOT number and that means new training target. One workout called for 6x200 meters Repetition pace (43 secs) at the end of some threshold running. After failing to meet the prescribed paces 4/6 times,  I decided to look back through the chapter on Repetition pace running and discovered that I have been doing repetitions incorrectly!

• I knew the purpose of the R pace was for mechanics, but it turns out that I am not giving myself enough recovery to run them properly. Think top speed for a short duration.
• Daniels suggests that to get the benefit or repetition running, you need to be able to hit a very fast pace. With shorter recoveries you end up running it more like an interval, or VO2 max session, which is designed to push you aerobically. Repetition is supposed to be anaerobic and purely for improving form. 
• Daniels says to take up to 4 times the duration for recovery- so a 45 second 200M at repetition pace earns up to three minutes recover- even walking. This is to allow you to run each one at your very best effort. Each repetition should feel as manageable as the first. VO2max sets are an entirely different type of  workout and should be saved for Interval pace (lung bleeding) running (which I also do). That should make some of my workouts a bit easier! Easier, but longer...
• I tried giving some Repetitions another shot- with plenty of recovery time- at the end of an easy run and coincidentally hit 200 meters with one of them. This time in 39 seconds. Much better. Looking forward to another chance to do these at the end of a hard speed workout. I am sure that threshold running first will bring that number closer to 43 seconds. 

Races
I thought I might look for another 5k in the area for Saturday, but have not been able to find one close enough to suit me. But, what I did find was the Eugene Celebration Mile road race. This is chip timed and done in a single mass start.

I looked at this last year, but my thought was that it was crazy to pay 20-25$ to race one mile! So, I didn't. This year,....well,...I am still a cheapskate! I hate to pay even that much for a 5k! So...here's my question: Would you pay 20-25$ to race a one mile race if there was any chance you would have a new PR?
I'd hate to spend the money and NOT come away with one. Ha!

Late edit: Just having a little fun with my blog header...I don't really fancy myself as SUPER anything :)