I drove down to Seattle this morning to race the mile in the open meet. It's been awhile since I raced this distance, and I haven't exactly been banging out workouts on the track, so I've been a little uncertain what kind of mile shape I'm in. I did my usual warmup, and settled into a conservative pace at the gun. Maybe a little too conservative. I started at about 10k pace and immediately dropped to the back and had to remind myself it was a mile race. Reached the quarter in 66, jostled around a bit on the next lap or two, managed to get spiked pretty deep on my left shin, but reached the half in 2:13. 3:20-3:21 at 3/4s, and then managed to pick off a few runners in the last lap to finish in 4:27.
I'm pleased with the race. My official PR (though relatively weak) is 4:25, and I thought I might be able to dip under that. But the #1 goal was to get under 4:30 and see how things felt. The pace was shocking, although by the end I still felt strong and responsive, and kicking was easy. I think I ran very conservatively and could probably shave a few seconds off in my current fitness. This is good. My goal this season is to see how far I can get under 4:20, and this is a big step in that direction.
After the race, Pete and I headed out to the canal hill and banged out 6x48s hill repeats to add just a little more volume to the day.
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