Humboldt Mile: Pre-Race Thoughts

On Saturday I'm racing a mile. More specifically I'll be racing the Humboldt Mile which is essentially a loop around the eastern half of Humboldt Park.

Humboldt Mile Course (src)

I'm super pumped to be racing a mile. If you've never raced one, it's like getting a pure adrenaline shot of speed - you just let your legs fly and try to hang on until the bitter end. There is some strategy like trying to keep the quarter miles even, but essentially I'll be running near or at 100% for 5 minutes straight. There is some major pain involved especially over the last quarter mile, but the race is over so quickly that it's somewhat manageable. To this long distance runner, it stands in sharp contrast to any race or training run I've done over the last 11 months, and for that reason it will be exciting to run a pure "foot race" to see how fast I can go.

"I live my life a quarter mile at a time...nothing else matters..I'm free!"

  from "The Fast and the Furious"

I ran the Grim Mile at the Luther North track almost a year ago. Since that race was on a track it had 16 turns. Saturday's race will be on the road with essentially two turns - so, it should be a lot faster. However, whereas with the Grim Mile I raced against five other people, it appears that the Humboldt Mile will have over 500 participants. By the time I registered they were sold out of the first 500 t-shirts! However, there will be three waves, but that still will probably leave about at least 100 people in my wave jockeying for position at the start and around the turns. I want to be up front for two reasons: 1) Don't want to do too much weaving 2) Want to be up front with the fast dogs to see if I can get "pulled along" at a fast pace. Hopefully, this thing won't be a cluster!

My goal is to see if I can break 5:00/mile which I've never done. But since this race won't be held on a track I'm not sure about it being an "official" mile. A sub 5:00/mile in my mind is on a track, so my "official" attempt will come next month when I race the 2016 edition of the Grim Mile.

I still have done zero speed work since last year, so I will be drawing on residual marathon fitness, my multiple daily "puppy sprints" with my dog and whatever mileage I've put in since the Carmel Marathon in April. In any case I'm excited to see what happens!