RACE REPORT: Continental Airlines 5th Avenue Mile

Date: 9/26/2009
Type: Race
Course: Continental Airlines 5th Avenue Mile
Distance: 1 mile
Duration: 5:55
Pace: 5:55 / mile
Equipment: Brooks Infiniti 2 (Copper/Silver/Bl)
Weight: 158 lb
Misc: Quality: 7/10, Effort: 10/10
Field Placement: 827 / 3793 (21.8%)
Age group: 40 – 44
Group Placement: 75 / 256 (29.3%)
Gender Placement: 763 / 2166 (35.2%)

Intervals (Quarter Mile Intervals)
Distance............Time......Total Time....Pace.......Notes
1st 0.25....Mi.....1:16......... 1:16......... 5:04
2nd 0.25...Mi....1:40......... 2:56........ 6:40... up hill a bit. tough. losing ground 2:56 total
3rd 0.25...Mi....1:24.......... 4:20........ 5:36... down hill went all out. heard my right calf pop 4:40
4th 0.25...Mi....1:15........... 5:35........ 5:00... all out even with calf pain. best 1/4 split!

I’ve only done this race once. Back in 2005. Back then I was still something of a novice in what was my first comeback year. I’ll cut to the chase and tell you that my time was 6:45 in 2005. Back then I thought it was fantastic. Now it’s 2009. I’m fours years older. And I’m faster too.

I left Karen at the start and made my way down 5th to see her finish. She was very impressive, as she crossed at 7:15. She wasn’t as impressed, but I’ve been noticing subtle changes in her running of late, and I think she is going to improve a lot over the next few years. I’d like to think that I might have something to do with that too.

Well, I walked back up to the start area. I felt like I was waiting on line to hop on a rollercoaster. I went to the starting line as soon as my age group was announced. In the meantime, there was another corral in front of us ready to take off. Take off was every 15 minutes. I was pretty fortunate to line only 4 rows back from the elite runners in my age category. I could see them bent forward with their hands on their watches waiting for the air horn to go off. It did, and we were off.

The strategy to this race is totally different than any other race. Basically, there is one simple objective: Take off as fast as you can, and see how long you can hang on.

I started playing "Would I Lie To You" from Annie Lennox because I love the upbeat tempo. Finished it off with "Blackout" by Scorpions. After the first 1/4 mile, I was flying and still feeling good in the lungs. 2nd quarter was much tougher; it was up a hill between 75th and 70th streets. However after that it was all down hill. I extended my stride to start passing people; bad idea. My right calf muscle just popped, and I had to slow down actually. The last quarter mile came up. Some idiot wearing a gray shirt, slightly taller than me, banged into my right shoulder, re-activating my need to speed up. As I headed through for the last 200 Meters I was able to see the time clock at the finish line and realized I had an outside shot for breaking 6 minutes. After finishing, I was totally winded though. Not as bad as the 2005 one where I felt like knives, but bad enough that it is 8pm and I am still coughing up a lung. They almost didnt give me a water bottle as i was supposed to hold on to the tshirt coupon. the guy was telling me some nonsense about it, and i was so out of it, i nearly spilled my water all over him. lol. he finally relented and gave it to me. I then saw Karen, and I walked home from 60th to 96th. Icing my calf now. Will I be able to do 18 miles tomorrow at 7am? only time will tell. that and some protein and pasta!

So there you have it. It took a while this year to do it, but at 5:55 for the mile I have a PR. Fastest One Mile race? Well, here it is. 44 years old and loving it!

Francis Burdett, 44, of Worcester, MA did it in 4:28. That's a full 1:27 faster than me!

Check this out!
I couldn't find myself on video, but Karen can be seen with her blonde hair in a pony tail. She's wearing all black and you can see her in the lower part of the video. She enters into the scene at about :25 seconds.