April 17, 2016: The Morningside Mile

2015 time: 7:03

I'm a fair-weather runner. 

Last spring I ran my first one-mile race through the Virginia-Highland and Morningside neighborhoods.  I recalled that it was a fun race and decided that I would run it again this year if the weather was promising.  Bonnie was also interested and so I signed both of us up a few days ahead of race day.  My only concern was running two races on consecutive days, having run the Singleton 10K yesterday morning, but thanks to The Miracle Body Buffer, we were both ready to run again today.  It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky!

As with last year's race, the elite runners (faster than 6 minute / mile) started their race at 12:00 pm.  I watched their start from the sidewalk.  Then it was time for the second wave, "Amateurs.  6 - 9 minute mile runners.  No kids under 16."  That last sentence was ignored.  As I tried to get into the second wave, I found that the only place available for me behind the start line was immediately in front of a parked car, with the back of my legs touching the front bumper.  I was a little worried about being on the front line until I heard the instructions, asking for runners at a 6 - 7 minute pace to come to the front.  Hoping to improve on last year's time, I was attempting to finish in less than 7 minutes.  

Panorama of the intersection where the race began, with Lanier Boulevard from left to right and
 Virginia Avenue straight ahead.  The race began on the left side of this photo, running left to right.
 I started immediately in front of the parked car, visible on the far left of the photo. 

We began at the bottom of the map
and ran to the north, more or less. 

Our race began at 12:15 pm.  Although I had warmed up fairly well, I felt a sharp pain in the center of each gluteus as I began running, but fortunately that disappeared after a few steps.  We began with a nice downhill section, so I decided to go all out once I had passed the children, mostly to see how fast I could go.  Within a few hundred feet of the start, an small insect had the misfortune to hover at the same elevation as my mouth, and the little creature perished somewhere deep in my lungs.  That didn't slow me at all.  Afterwards, the Garmin revealed that I reached 11.2 mph at 0.15 miles into the race.  Amazingly, I began to tire, even with the gravity assist.  If more blood had been going to my brain, I would have worried more about the uphill section to come, but fortunately I was just running, GO-GO-GO!!!  At the bottom of the hill, just past the midpoint of the race, I was still moving at 9.1 mph.  We turned onto Morningside Drive, to begin the first uphill section.  Although I certainly slowed down (to 7.6 mph), it wasn't too bad, in fact it felt 'good' to use different muscles after the downhill start.  Morningside Drive leveled out after a block, and I got back to 8.1 mph.  Then we made a right turn onto Lanier Place, which was the toughest uphill stage of the race, slowing down to 7.4 mph.  Fortunately it was only one short block, then we turned right onto North Highland Avenue for the dash to the finish line.  I was really tired but I knew that I didn't have much further to go, getting back up to 8.0 mph.  As the finish line came into view, I realized that I would achieve my goal!  The clock read 6:52 as I crossed the finish line. 

Not a negative split! But I'm still very pleased with my run.  

Immediately after finishing, I had an intense sensation of soreness in the back of my throat, and then remembered having the same problem last year.  I think that once again, I had inhaled a considerable amount of tree pollen in the short duration of the race.  I needed several bottles of water - and several sprays of Chloraseptic when we got home - but I will survive.  I checked in with Temilola "Tes" Sobomehin at the runningnerds tent, who was advertising the 1-mile race series.  At the moment that I was talking with her, I couldn't imagine running another 1-mile race, as I was still breathing hard from today's race.  But with the passage of a few hours, my interest has been piqued.

Representing runningnerds

runningnerd nation moving up in the world!

I got back to the race finish area just in time to
photograph Bonnie finishing her first one-mile race! 

Bonnie and I stayed at the post-race party for the awards ceremony (I was 50 seconds slower than the 50 - 59 male age group winner), then walked a few feet to Alon's Bakery for sandwiches.  Although there was no seating available at Alon's, we drove to Piedmont Park and enjoyed delicious lamb and garlic sandwiches along with savory Monte Enebro cheese on baguette slices, on a beautiful afternoon. 

With Bonnie at Piedmont Park, after the race

   Morningside Mile

Amendment, April 19: The photos have been posted on the Morningside Mile Facebook page.  Although I'm obscured by the runner immediately in front of me, it looks like I finished in 6:53 or maybe even 6:54.  6:52 was the last number that I saw on the clock but that was a step or two before crossing the finish line.  I'm awaiting official results to see how I did relative to others in my age group! 
Amendment, April 21: The official result is 6:52.  In the photos it looks like there are two clocks, one facing each direction.  I wonder if the two clocks weren't perfectly synchronized, not that a couple of seconds really matters at my pace!

Above: I'm in the green shirt, above the number "9" on the clock.
Below: I'm immediately behind runner #1312.