Spring Street Mile

Manchester, CT

Saturday, May 20, 2023

I've long had interest to run this race, and this year it made even more sense to me as part of running the USATF-CT Road Grand Prix.  This being a short race, the write-up will be commensurately short.

The format is a one-mile point-to-point downhill course, with ample parking at the finish.  Arrived about one hour prior to men's start.  (The women had a separate start 15 minutes before men.)  There was only a short line for bib and shirt pickup, and zero line for bathrooms, with real bathrooms at that.  Knowing the start was a mile away and uphill, I opted to do most of my warmup on athletic fields and manicured paths at an athletic field adjacent to the start.  That gave me plenty of time to get back to the car, change into my team singlet and change shoes into my NB SuperComp Pacer (essentially carbon-fiber flats).

Walked/ran the mile from the finish to the start, walking the steeper uphill parts and running the others.  Was fun to watch the women's race in progress during my trek to the start.  Go to the start ten minutes before race time, ran a few strides, and caught up with a few teammates.  I still don't know the majority of them, but am getting to know a few more.

First quarter mile:  I lined up in about the third row.  When it was announced one minute to go, we were pretty much all in place.  When the starter yelled out "ten seconds", all went quiet until a starting air horn signaled us to start.  Runners left and right of me absolutely blasted out ahead of me.  While I caught a few about 1/4 mile in, I just don't have that kind of acceleration or sprint speed and in retrospect, I started too far up.  Split 1:12 (average 4:48 pace).

Second quarter mile:  The fields opens up here, and I have plenty of room for the rest of the race.  Split 1:18 (average 5:12 pace).

Third quarter mile:  This is the flattest section of the four.  Each quarter-mile is marked by a large cone on the side of the road.  I am running side-by-side with a guy I know is in his 50s, and I see another 50s age grouper just ahead of him.  I know they're both in their 50s for sure as I had finished just ahead of them at the 5K championships.  Split 1:18 (average 5:12 pace).

Fourth quarter mile:  The flattened out section ends, and the final downhill ensues.  The guy I had been running with has another gear and bursts ahead.  I will not be catching him today.  Meanwhile, my teammate Mike is just ahead of me and I give it all I have to pass him with the finish line in sight. 

Passing teammate Mike and heading to the finish.

Split 1:12 (average 4:48 pace).

Was running side by side with this guy
until 1/4 mile to go when he had another
gear that I didn't
(Gives me some relief that I beat him by two
seconds at USATF-CT 5K championship)

It looks like I'm much further back than the
one second I finished behind him (chip time). 
Maybe he started further ahead than me?

Almost done.  There were actually
two timing mats you crossed, not sure why.

Looks like I'm about to fall over here,
but I think it's just the angle that this was shot on
the final downhill

Final results:  5:02, 41st of 141, 5th in age group.

As I crossed the finish line, I glanced at the digital clock showing "4:58".  Yes, I finished sub-5!  Or so I thought until someone cruelly snapped me back to reality by telling me that the finish line clock was wrong.  Ugh.

I also wrongly thought I finished in 3rd place in my age group, until I saw the results indicating I was in 5th.  Yikes.  I later reflected on this and saw in the results that everyone that finished ahead of me was younger than me.  Yeah, that's a technicality, but looking at it in this vein makes me a feel a little better.

Part of the team today.  I'm bib #129, two to the left of the
finish sign.  Note that I have now grown to 7' tall, as you can
see most of it in my legs.  I'm guessing most of that growth spurt
is from stretching out my legs on this downhill race,
and I'll probably revert to my diminutive stature of 5'5" soon.