The thing that attracted me to the Brooklyn Mile virtual race is the age graded prizes -- I merely need to run a 5:31 to achieve "Level 8" and capture prize money and significant glory:
The target time of 5:31 is an interesting challenge - seemingly quite doable based on recent workouts, but the mile is not a distance I race and going out too fast could doom my chances. I last raced the mile distance seven years ago and was distressed after struggling to a time of 5:16.
I managed to talk three other (much faster) teammates to join me, along with a handful of supporters. I knew I needed some other participants in order to generate some energy. And when my training partner George and I toed the line at 9:45am on Saturday morning I felt I had worked up enough adrenaline to somewhat replicate race conditions.
In fact while I did burst out to a reasonable start, at around 500 meters I seemed to lose concentration. I had hopes of sticking within site of George, but he blew me away running a very impressive 5:02, and then alone on the sidewalk I lost any mental toughness and started staring at my watch and engaging in mental calculations whether I was on pace to hit the 5:31 target.
You can see me in this picture - my eyes glued to my watch for a shockingly long stretch at end of the mile waiting desperately for my GPS to hit 1.00. This slow finish almost costing me the prize, as my Garmin records 5:30 for 1 mile and I manage to hit Level 8 with only one second to spare.
While the virtual event did lack for crowds and color and pageantry, it did prove quite convenient - allowing us to pick the time and place to meet.
Moreover it provided opportunity for some good photo-ops, an artistic video, some nice camaraderie, and at last something to talk about again.
1 comment:
Congratulations. I guess I should have done it. Just borrowed someone's GPS.
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