Run 4 the Health of It, 4 Mile PR Race Recap

Toward the end of July, someone from our running group posted the details about this 4 mile race, and if we registered by the end of July, it was $10. $10?!?!!? The biggest catch for me was that it was on Labor Day. I checked the calendar and cleared it with Jeff that we had nothing planned, and signed up. How could I pass up a $10 race?! I put it on the calendar and pretty much forgot about the race. I haven't raced anything shorter than a Half Marathon (other than the 5 mi trail race in June) since April 2011. WOW! That's a long time. The fact that I wasn't worried at all about the race, I really had no plan, I even forgot about packet pick-up. OOPS! Luckily, someone posted about it on the RunDMC site and mentioned that we could pick up before the race started. Whew!

This past week, I looked up my previous 4 miler time to see if there would be any hopes of a PR. Well, after looking at the forecast with 90% humidity, I didn't think there was any way that I would pull it off.   My plan was to give it my all without over-doing it in the humidity.

We had our RunDMC photo op (wow, there were a lot of us today!) and then headed over to the start. It was so much fun to see so many familiar faces today. And, FINALLY, I got to meet Dave. We have been trying to meet in person for close to two years! So nice to talk to him in person!

I saw Greg and asked him what he was looking to do today. He had no goals so I asked him if he could try to get me to a PR. His 5K PR time is about a minute faster than mine, so I figured his 4 mile race time would be just a touch faster, too. The race started and we went TOO FAST (of course). It honestly felt good, but I knew I would never be able to keep it up for 3 more miles. There were several times I looked down and saw a 7:xx on my watch. (Maybe the lesson here is to not take my watch the next time?!) Greg started pulling ahead and I was happy to see him go on and I just did the best I could. It was BRUTAL today. Usually, I don't take my own water for a race under Half Marathon distance, but knew with the weather today, I would need it. I was VERY glad to have it!

The course was very flat and was only on the bike trails. It was pretty through the park with a lot of trees, too. A couple times during the race, I was ready to just give in to the heat, but somehow convinced myself to keep going. I was reminded why I started going for distance instead of speed about two years ago....short races hurt! Greg hadn't pulled too far ahead of me, so I had the delusion of catching him. Yeah, that never happened, but I didn't let him get too far ahead. (I'm pretending that he was going all out even though I'm sure he could have raced faster!)

Rounding the corner for the finish.

Finally, almost to the finish line. I knew I wasn't going to get a PR, but I was darn close to one. My last 4 mile race in December 2010 was 34:23 and my average pace today was above that. I saw my family about 50 feet in front of the finish line and at that point, I was running as fast as I could make myself go. The clock read 33:xx and I wasn't sure how that could be. When I stopped my watch, it read 3.91 mi. I have NEVER run short....I always run long. After three years, I still can't figure out the tangents! However, I must have done something right today as it was a USATF certified course! I know I should take the official time over my own, but for some reason it feels wrong since my Garmin measured it short. I just need to ignore that and go with the race time! It's a PR! :)

The post race food was amazing for such a small race! There was fruit, pizza, water, fruit leather, Dairy Queen blizzards, Rita's Ice, Oxy Water, and a few other things. The parking was close by (and free!), easy to get to, easy packet pick-up and I even got to pick what shirt I wanted. We were given the choice between a cotton T-shirt and a tech t-shirt. I went for the cotton...I have TONS of tech t-shirts that I don't wear from races, so I thought I'd like to be able to wear one around. If we are in town on Labor Day next year, I will definitely be running it again!

Finishing strong!

Official Results:
Time 33:49
Average Pace: 8:28
Overall Place: 128/441
Age Group: 9/42