Mile High Mile 2012

I hadn't originally planned on running this race. I'd been asked by my good friend Keri, who was volunteering, to help her out with registration setup; and she told me she'd see if she could swing me an entry. I'm happy to say that she was successful, and grateful to her and the race director for the opportunity.

Last year was the first year that the Mile High Mile was run at Mile High Stadium (that's right, Mile High Stadium. Only the FIELD is named Invesc--er, Sports Authority). It's cute and all, the synchronicity; but I preferred running this race when it was at the state Capitol building, because the course was flat! Now there's a hill in the second quarter mile. Obviously, it's followed by a downhill in the third quarter, but still. I like flat.

But that makes no nevermind. I was still looking forward to busting out a fast race. How fast was still open to discussion. Last year I finished in 6 minutes, 16 seconds. I didn't think I'd beat that this year. I told myself at the start that I would keep it under 7 minutes. In fact, for most of the first quarter mile, I kept my pace between 5:30 and 6:30, so I had a good strong start going into that dang uphill. I even managed to keep myself under 7-minute pace for the first part of that uphill, but then I started to slip to between 8:30 and 9:00 pace. Of course, I made up some of the difference on the downhill, pushing to around 6-minute pace.

I was feeling pretty good at this point, and even thinking that I might come pretty close to my PR from last year. Just past the three-quarter mark I decided to make my move and take advantage of the steep drop as the course entered the stadium. I poured on the speed and passed a runner whom I had been dogging since the start of the uphill. I started my loop around the outer track on the field and started to sprint. As the finish line came within sight, I saw the clock creeping towards 6:30. I reached as deep as I could and threw myself across the line in 6:28!

Official Time: 6:28
YTD Race Miles: 18.4
YTD Total Miles: 431.5
Incognito: Kylee S