In the months before COVID-19 swept the globe, the Atlanta Track Club announced the race date for the Singleton 4-Miler for April 25. Brian Minor and I had resolved to race each other. In case you're wondering, here is our scorecard for seven of our competitions prior to today's contest:
July 16, 2016: Decatur DeKalb 4-Miler Frank 34:16 Brian 32:00
July 17, 2016: Lindbergh Mile Frank 7:07 Brian 7:01
January 7, 2017: Red Nose Half Marathon Frank 2:04:00 Brian 1:59:06
January 1, 2018: Resolution Run 5K Frank 23:30 (PR) Brian 23:26
December 9, 2018: Jeff Galloway Half Marathon Frank 1:58:50 Brian 1:55:54
August 3, 2019: Decatur DeKalb 4-Miler Frank 33:09 Brian 34:37
September 2, 2019: Big Peach Sizzler 10K Frank 53:23 Brian 53:01
There are a few more, with much the same pattern, although I'm only counting the races that I specifically remember that we had challenged each other beforehand. The funny thing, before I looked up our results while writing this blog post, I had forgotten that I have lost 6 out of these 7 contests. I've only remembered the fun that we've enjoyed before, during, and after these races.
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| Oct. 22, 2017, before the Atlanta 10-Miler. We weren't directly racing on this day, but Brian bought me breakfast after I met his challenge to go for a personal record. |
When we learned that the Singleton race was postponed, I proposed to Brian that we hold a virtual competition: we each pick our preferred route, start at the same time, and let Strava referee. Brian immediately accepted, and our training resumed!
In selecting my route, my top priority was safety. After an easy run up and down Lavista Road in Tucker, I decided that the sidewalks were too battered for me to try to run faster. I settled on an out-and-back route at Stone Mountain Park, where one lane of the asphalt roadway is reserved for pedestrians and cyclists, and there is minimal auto traffic, restricted to one direction, in the other lane. Brian was originally going to run the Suwanee Greenway, but after investigating the route, there were some wet spots covering the trail. With the recent rains, Brian elected to run one of his regular routes on the sidewalk paralleling Duluth Highway. He had one traffic light to contend with, but I gather that running the main route, the likelihood was that the light would be green when he reached that intersection.
My route had more hills, but my biggest hill was only a 60 foot climb in the middle of the route. I do OK with rolling hills, and all of my runs excepting those on the track are hilly runs. At least these hills would not be as steep as those on the trails at Lucky Shoals Park. Brian had a 100-foot hill to climb in mile 1, then descending about 60 feet, then climbing 60 feet in mile 3 of his return. He told me that he was counting on a fast finish with the long downhill for mile 4.
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| We both started on the east side of our routes, ran west 2 miles, and then returned to the start-finish area |
I'm in week 4 of a 14-week training plan with Coach Carl, finishing with the Peachtree Road Race 10K on July 4. Currently, I'm not too hopeful that we'll actually run large races that soon. However, well before COVID-19 had spread through the United States, I had already resolved to focus on 5K to 10K training in this cycle, to develop some speed, before returning to longer endurance races, culminating in a 2021 marathon. The training program has felt easy so far, perhaps because I'm comparing it to marathon training. However the speed components include 15-second strides and hill repeats, as well as tempo and progression runs, trying to hit specific paces. Carl is a big advocate of strides, once a week, at the end of shorter easy workouts, and claims that strides are one of the best ways to build speed.
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| The "ass o'clock" photo means that this is a REAL race, whether or not you think that it's virtual. |
My personal record for the 4-mile race distance is 32:53, from April 2019 in the Singleton race. Brian has run 31:18 and 31:30, but those times date back to 2017. I ran in both of those races, but I don't recall specifically trying to race Brian, and doubt that I would have had a chance. Back then I was happy to break 34 minutes.
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| Before I began running, I had rarely appreciated the beauty of sunrise. Bonnie took these photos from the car on the way to Stone Mountain Park. |
Arriving at Stone Mountain shortly before 7:00 am, I had plenty of time to warm up on a 2-mile out-and-back on my chosen race route. The weather was nearly perfect, 53 degrees F, but there was a very light drizzle toward the end of my warmup. Around 7:20 am, Bonnie and I called Brian and Beverly on FaceBook Messenger for a short video-chat. They had a little more rain than we did. Brian was sporting his Chicago Marathon shirt, I was wearing traditional Tucker Running Club day-glo, and the Brooks shoes that had carried me to a big personal record in the marathon on March 1. Based on my warmup, I wasn't sure what I might run today, but I was hoping to finish in about 34 minutes. But I jokingly finished the call with Brian with the words "Talk to you in about 25 minutes!"
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| Brian even created a bib to wear for our virtual race! 19 is his favorite number. |
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| Some friendly trash talk before the race! |
I did a few last-minute stretches as I toed the line at the start. Bonnie lined up to take my photo of the start; Beverly did the same for Brian, about 10 miles away. At 7:30 am sharp, Bonnie gave me a signal, then "Ready, Set, GO!!!!"
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| Above: Brian getting inspiration before his race from their son, Brenden Below: Beverly made signs for Brian's race! |
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| Above: Brian's start in the rain in Lawrenceville Below: The drizzle had stopped at Stone Mountain, about 10 miles to the east |
I had intended to run the first mile in 8:30 or so, and then try to speed up from there. When I first glanced at my watch about 30 seconds in, I was moving at a 7:50 min / mile pace. But I had a slight downhill start, so I settled into an easy rhythm. Amazingly, I was still running around an 8 minute / mile pace. Coach Carl had reminded me, "careful not to start too fast!" Yet my legs felt really good. I decided to trust my training, and my warmup, and my strides, and I maintained the same pace. Mile 1 elapsed in 7:57, a little faster than I had planned. I might just have three more of those miles in me today, I thought.
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| I took these photos a week ago, when I was checking out the race route. Axles were a landmark at 0.4 miles. Below is the view one mile into my route. |
Before I knew it, I was at the single intersection on this route. This was the 1.4 mile mark. But instead of 14 minutes on an easy run pace, I was looking at just past 11 minutes elapsed on my watch!
Now I ran downhill past the Children's Playground, then uphill again, still running strongly. In this section, I had to move to the left side of the roadway (reserved for auto traffic) to maintain sufficient distance from walkers. At this time of the morning, I had seen only a few cars. Running in the westward direction, I was facing traffic, so I had plenty of warning whenever I needed to move back into the pedestrian lane. My main concern was to stay out of the bicycle lane, especially while running downhill, as the cyclists can pick up some significant speed on the Stone Mountain hills.
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| Grateful for downhill running! And grateful for great friends, and my lovely wife. Can't forget the real meaning of life! |
After passing the Children's Playground, I began climbing a long hill that tops out near the parking lot for the walk-up trail to the top of Stone Mountain. Fortunately I knew from my route planning that I would only run up the first 10 - 20% of that hill. I was looking for the landmark for the turnaround, a remote parking lot off to the left. And there it was, appearing simultaneous with hearing the 2-mile alert. And at 16:02 elapsed!
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| Meanwhile, Beverly snapped a photo of Brian mid-race. |
We were judging distance by Strava, not by a measured race distance, so there was no point to running tangents. I had weaved a bit from the sidewalk on the right to the roadway on the left to maintain sufficient distance from others on the road. So I ran a few extra steps, just in case I found a more direct route to the finish line.
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| Halfway done!! |
Turning around, I immediately had to run back uphill, but it didn't take too long before I was heading downhill again. I've run the Stone Mountain loop in the counterclockwise direction many more times than the opposite, so the landmarks were more familiar from several years of running memories. At the intersection, just 1.4 miles to go!
But now, the exertion of the first 2.6 miles was beginning to take its toll. I was still running well, running fast, but was nearing exhaustion. I checked my pulse rate and I was already red-lined, 180 beats per minute! Brian had made a joke before we began, asking Bonnie "Do you know CPR?" and that came to mind. But then I was running downhill again. I tried to relax a little, let my pulse come down into the 170s (still pretty high), and heard the mile 3 alert, 24:08 elapsed.
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| Above: the view at mile 3 Below: a left turn, that in the past has deceived me that the roundabout is near. Today I knew that I still had 0.7 miles to run. |
Just one mile to go! A 33-minute finish was almost assured. I had no idea how Brian was doing with his run, but at this point, I was now thinking about what a great position I had put myself into for a personal record, if I just kept pushing. I had just run 7:57, 8:05, 8:06. An 8:45 would match my personal record! Although I was hurting, I just told myself, c'mon Frank, you can do anything for 1 mile!
Heading uphill, I was maintaining an 8:45 pace at first. Then I cleared the hill, made the left turn pictured above, and headed downhill, picking up some speed. Passing the axles again, 0.4 mile to go, my pace for the last mile was now 8:30 / mile. Putting aside the temptation to take a short walk break, I began looking for my last landmark.
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| These signs are relatively new, probably within the past year. From here, I had just 0.3 miles to go! |
I went into the motion of running a stride, but didn't turn up the speed to the second or third level, as I needed to maintain for just 2 or at most 3 more minutes. A woman coming the other way cheered me on: "You're close to the finish line!" I realized that she must have seen Bonnie's finish line, already in place for me. That was good, because I was going to arrive about 2 minutes earlier than I had told Bonnie to expect me! One last left turn, and then a straightaway to the finish.
I could see Bonnie in the distance, wearing her own yellow Tucker Running Club shirt, next to the finish line that she had strung up between two plastic poles marking the bicycle lane. I heard my watch signal 4 miles! I took a quick look but only saw 8:15, my time for mile 4, but knew that my time elapsed would begin with the number 32! One last push through the finish line for the cameras, for the glory, hearing Bonnie's cheers!!
I gasped to Bonnie, "Oh my, that was hard!" It took me a few minutes to regain my breath, but I was thrilled to see 32:43 elapsed for 4.04 miles. After I checked Strava, and my mental function had returned to manage the simple addition, I realized that I had just smashed my old personal record, with a 32:21 finish! Win or lose, I was going to be very, very happy with this outcome.
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| The second of three deer to cross the road shortly after I finished. |
And now to wait to hear from Brian! I went for a short warmup jog with my phone in hand, and then he called - his result was 37:02 minutes for 4.02 miles, or 36:53 at the 4.00 mile mark, according to Strava.
April 25, 2020: Mano-a-Mano 4-Miler Frank 32:21 Brian 36:53
We had a fun time afterwards, reliving our races. Here's our Strava results for comparison:
Although I ran really fast (for me) today, you can see that I slowed down with every mile, so that's something for me to work on going forward. It looks like Brian started conservatively, but had trouble with the hill on the return trip in mile 3, and couldn't make up enough on the downhill for mile 4.
There WILL be a rematch! I'm pushing for a head-to-head 10K competition for the Peachtree Road Race, but have also agreed to another 4-mile mano-a-mano on August 1, when the Decatur DeKalb 4-miler is scheduled.
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