Harrisburg Mile Race Report
I ran in the 26th annual Harrisburg Mile this evening.
I arrived around 5:30 at the East Shore YMCA to register for the race (I was going to pre-register last week, but wasn’t sure that my travel schedule would permit me to race). The registration process was pretty smooth, I was in and out within 2 minutes. They were out of t-shirts at the time, but that is certainly my fault for waiting until the last 30 minutes for a race as popular as this.
The weather had me a bit concerned earlier in the day. It was fairly muggy around lunch time, but we got a brief shower in the early afternoon and it seemed to clear up a bit. It was still a little warmer than I’d like when I got to Harrisburg, but it was definitely bearable for a short event like the mile.
The course is a fairly flat (some small dips and rises, nothing over 25 feet) USATF certified course, so it was nice to know that whatever time you ran here was legit. I watched the kids 1/2 mile race and the fun run, and then the competitive heats started. The 15 and under heat had a couple of kids go under 5 minutes. The 16-19 heat had some impressive talent with the winner coming in at about 4:25. At this point I had about 30 mins until my heat started so I jogged over to my car to ditch my gear and put on my racing flats.
I did a pretty light warm up since I didn’t want to overheat and ran into my friends Jon and James near the starting line (they were just coming to watch and stopped by as part of their workout). About two minutes before the start I walked over to the starting line and got in line. There were already people about 4 rows deep and it seemed like it was more of a “first-come first-serve” type of start versus people lining up by speed. Next year I’ll have to make sure I’m at the starting line sooner. I’d rather lose a second during the start than be known as the jerk who shows up late and tries to muscle his way closer to the front.
The first 70-100 yards or so was mostly trying to balance between passing people that were going slower while making sure that I didn’t go out too hard myself. I started feeling pretty comfortable and I heard a 1:24 split as I hit the quarter mile mark. This was almost perfect since I was hoping for a 5:45 +/- 5 seconds final time.
The second quarter mile I started concentrating on trying to keep a relatively even pace as I could feel my concentration drifting a bit. I saw my friends on the side yelling out to me and taking pictures which was pretty cool, it helped give me a bit of extra energy. The half-mile split was 2:51 (2nd quarter in 1:27), which still put me on target for my goal pace.
For the 3rd quarter mile I tried to lock on to two guys that were a few yards ahead of me and focused on trying to pull them in. I was able to catch up to them, but it was definitely a tough effort. The 3/4 mile split was about 3:16 (3rd quarter in 1:25), which was also on target for goal pace.
During the 4th quarter, one of the two guys I had passed about 30 seconds ago started pouring on his kick and passed me. I tried to counter as much as I could, but my legs were feeling pretty drained. I could see the clock and the finishing line as we were approaching and I was just hoping that my legs wouldn’t tighten up completely. I wasn’t able to catch up to the guy, but the effort in trying to catch him definitely helped my overall time. Thanks guy with the better kick! My last split was a 1:19.77
Official time: 5:37
I was really ecstatic with my time, even better than my goal! I think the speed workouts have really been improving my comfort level with running quicker.
Next goal: sub 19:30 5k and building mileage for the Harrisburg Half-Marathon which is in about 7 weeks.
July 19th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Great work… That’s super speedy!!! Nate and I and some others just went out and ran the mile on the track. I ran a 6:49. 5:37 is unfathomable to me right now. Congrats!!!
July 19th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Wow, that is fantastic! I didn’t even know there was a mile race, I would have come out to watch that.
Good luck on the sub 19:30! Are you planning to run the Harrisburg Marathon then (I know some people are running the half to see where they are for the full)? I have a friend that is going to be there, and I plan to come out to shoot some pics of the race.
July 19th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Hey guys,
Thanks for the kind words. I was running around 7:00 for an all out mile in November/December of last year, the last 6 months of running have really helped me out a lot. I think it is unlikely I’ll run the Harrisburg Marathon this year. I’d like to run a marathon at some point, but I’d want to make sure I have a work/travel schedule for the three or four months leading up to it that would be sufficient to allow the time needed to train properly . I will most likely volunteer at the marathon this year, so maybe I’ll see you then.
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I’m running the Marine Corps Marathon in October… So far, it’s as much work as I expected it to be. But, it’s fun too. Man, 6-7 months ago you were running 7:00 in the mile? That’s fantastic.
July 24th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Hey Eric – Congrats on going for the MCM, I’ve heard it is one of the best marathons in the country. I just found out that one of the guys from the Harrisburg Road Runners has signed up for that one too.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Don’t congratulate me yet… I’m only in week 5 of training. I did, however, go over 10 miles last week for the first time in my life (11.2 to be exact). I was running just about 10 min miles. Not too shabby. I’m sure when you have a more normal schedule you’re gonna toast a marathon. Good luck!!