Heat in The Street and a 2 mile PR

My weekend started with a trip to Arkadelphia Saturday morning to run the Heat in the Street 2 Miler, one of the Arkansas Grand Prix series races. Our Tuesday night running clinic was one of the harder speed workouts we had done all year and afterwards I felt it in my left heel so I basically took the rest of the week off so I would be ready for this race.

Cruisers discuss pre-race strategy
Annette, Jane, Joan, Curtis, Vicki, Vic's grandaughter

I wore my racing flats since a 2 mile race is pretty short and I needed all the advantage I could get. When we did our warm up I could tell I was going to be in pain after this race. The racing flats do not have as much cushioning as my regular running shoes but I just had to deal with it and race. The other thing was we were biking with some of the group after the race at the Lake Degray half Ironman bike course. I was looking forward more to the bike riding than the run. We had a decent group of runners, not as many as normal but a good solid group. Annette, Bailey, Joan, Vicki, Jane, Gary, Curtis, James B and myself. Jane and I were kidding Joan that we were going to pace off of her. At 67 years old she is an inspiration and I had yet to beat her in a race. My plan was to run with Jane and Joan as I knew we would all run about the same pace.

Warm up run

The race started with about a 2 block downhill, and as we started running Jane took off, so I followed. We took full advantage of the hill and I passed several grand prix runners that I had never beaten in a race before. So from here on I just chased Jane. I couldn't catch her, not sure if she knew I was back there or not but I stayed close. We were flying that first mile. I looked at my garmin when it beeped the first mile time and I couldn't believe it. 7:56. I had never ran a 7:56 mile. The thoughts in my head were that I was going to crash since I obviously went out too fast but I kept pushing and trying to keep up with Jane. It was a good run, I was running hard, but it felt good. I knew the end was coming soon so I knew I could finish the distance. As we ran I could tell Jane was slowing just a little. About 150 feet before the finish line I made my move, kicked it in high gear and sprinted to line passing Jane with about a 3 second lead. I couldn't believe it when I looked at my final time. 16:19. That is a new 2 mile PR by 38 seconds!! I had to write Coach Dennis later and tell him that his speed work training was working. Unfortunately as soon as I stopped I could feel my heel. It seems there is a price to pay for speed.

We ended up leaving before the awards were given out. Cindy was waiting at Lake Degray for us to bike so Annette, Gary, Curtis, James and I took off for our bike ride.

I'll try to write more tomorrow about our Iron Mountain ride.