Saturday morning I was up with the sun to get 11 miles in. I ran a new-to-me route that was actually kind of nice. Rolling hills that I never thought once "oh man, another hill!?", and wide shoulders along most of the roads I traveled on. Plus, lots of friendly drivers that gave me lots of room on the road.
On Sunday, hubby and I were up bright and early, again, to travel to Duluth for the Minnesota Mile. This is a fun, short race. Yes, really only a mile! It's part of the "Bring Back the Mile" campaign, which I guess is a nationwide thing?
In any case, we had to be there super early to get my race packet and ensure a good parking spot. I shouldn't have worried about that so much, since the race had less than 300 participants. It was actually a nice, relaxed race. As always, the Grandma's team does a good job of communication and organization. The MN Mile is broken out into a few divisions: the All-City Mile is for those with a projected finish time of 6:46 or longer (us slow pokes), and then the Duluth Mile for 6:46 and faster. Each has a men's and women's division.
The best part of this is that 250 finishers get a guaranteed entry into the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon, which is one of the most popular races in these parts. It's hard to get in the lottery, so I was willing to take the gamble!
I wasn't really planning on running the mile as fast as I could. We had a nice day planned with brunch and the weather was beautiful. I figured I'd just go, run the mile in maybe 8:15 or 8:30, and carry on. But once you get there, the atmosphere is just fun and the whole idea is fast. So once the starting gun went off, I was booking it!
I finished at 7:11! That's crazy fast for me. I felt really good after the first quarter mile, which was a little tough, but my body kind of relaxed into that pace and I was flying! Knowing that you just have to keep it up for a mile is helpful, too. I was 9th in my division, so not winning any awards, but I felt pretty happy with myself!
 |
| Please forgive the glare on my glasses and my slightly flushed look! |
Since I've mentally committed to running the Detroit Marathon next Fall, I've been very curious as to what I can expect for a full marathon finishing time. 4 hours or under would be great.
Uhm...who am I kidding? Just finishing would be great! But based on this race predictor chart, it looks like a sub-4 full marathon is not too far out of reach!
 |
| Average predicted full marathon race time is 3:53:30, with 4:01:21 being the longest prediction |
Of course, that's if everything goes well, I stay healthy, and all the stars align. But I'm ready to start putting in the hard work to get me there!
How was your weekend? Are you working on any goals, long term or short?
No comments:
Post a Comment