Progress in Providence

Yesterday I raced my third USA Road Championship race, the CVS Health 5k in Providence, RI. It was my highest finish in a USARC race for me thus far, my history being as such:

• 32nd at Half Marathon Champs, 2013
• 19th at Bix 7 Miler Champs, 2014
• 11th at CVS 5k Champs, 2014

Granting that progression above is assisted by the fact that each race is closer to my main race distance, the 5k, I still think it shows some progress in the last year. Especially when the strong field at the 5k Champs is considered.

Day before the race by the harbor

Quick Race Recap:
Race Video Here

Race went out rather leisurely at 4:33 through the mile and everyone was bunched up. There was a decent downhill in the first mile that made it feel pretty easy. Then we even split on the second mile coming through in 9:06 and I was right there with the lead pack. But then on the long straight after the mile 2 split, I lost contact with the lead group. With about 600 to go, I caught Craig Forys and moved past him into 9th place. Then we hit the hill with 300 to go and Foryse went flying by with Julian Saad in tow, which left me outside of the top 10 and the money. Watched it happen right before my eyes and my legs couldn't do anything.

Up the final hill, Craig Forys on right, Julian Saad on left
Photo Credit: Ricky Lupp

While my goal was to be top-10 heading into the race and I'm disappointed that I just barely missed that goal, I feel good about the race. As I've described to some of my close friends, this first year with Team USA MN has been a year of developing confidence. A side effect of being such a huge fan of the sport is that I would line up next to guys who had won national titles, Olympic medals, World Championship medals, etc... and be intimidated. These were guys I would wake up before the sun rose on weekends during college to watch them race in Europe. Guys who Letsrun would do articles on and Flotrack would have weekly videos on their workouts. 

And then there would be me, the Cincinnati kid without even a state title to his name trying to run with the best of them.

But I can confidently say for the first time this year, I felt like I belonged. Even with such a deep and talented field, I felt like I really had a shot at the top. This serves as a great example of what my college coach, Bill Schnier, used to always tell us during college: confidence is like the issue of the chicken and the egg, what comes first? A great race to be confident, or confidence to have a great race? It has to be one or the other. And his advice was as follows, “You have to be absolutely sure you are better than your opponent, even if the evidence is not there. By doubting yourself, by worrying and by using any negativity only robs you of your energy. Furthermore, when a few things go wrong in a race, which they usually do, the confident person assumes that things will work out, whereas the doubter will think, ‘here we go, down the drain.’”

As I reflect upon the race, I think about how talented some of the top guys in the race were. Not that I don't have any talent, but guys who were running in the top 25 at NCAA XC by their sophomore year (Estrada, Darling, Fernandez, and Girma) are gifted with quite a bit of talent. I didn't even qualify for NCAAs my sophomore year. But by my senior year, I had ascended to a 25th place finish. My takeaway is that if I could rise that high in the collegiate ranks from consistent training, then it's possible to do the same at the professional level as well. Now that I have found my groove with my teammates and coach at Team USA Minnesota, I'm feeling optimistic about the upcoming years.

Race Results

Minnesota Mile '14

It's been a little bit since my last post and in that time period, I raced the Bix 7 Miler (US 7 Mile Road Championship), took a much needed break from running, went to Alaska for 2 weeks for some outdoor adventures, and then started training again on the 14th of August. Without diving into too many details, I never made a post about the Bix 7 Miler because it was a rather poor race and certainly an indication that I had overextended my fitness for a long season. My break from running was much needed and very refreshing.

The Famous Lift Bridge in Duluth

But alas, after 3 weeks of training, I jumped into the Minnesota Mile, which was the last stop of the Bring Back the Mile Tour and only a short drive up to Duluth, MN.  I went in with no expectations and just wanted to run a fun and competitive road mile, hoping that I could make a little money on the side.

Race day was absolutely beautiful, but compared to the swift tailwind of last year, this year's race featured an equally brisk headwind, which slowed down the field. Getting off the line it was clear that I had brought a dull metal bar to a knife fight, but I was going to give it all I had. The race quickly separated into two packs: a lead pack of about 10 and the rest of the field.  I hung onto the back of the lead pack to pass the quarter mile in ~61s and stuck there through 800, where the field began to gap me.

I fought through the third quarter, feeling like my lungs were so far ahead of my legs, which was appropriately so given that the past 3 weeks of training were typical of fall: an emphasis on threshold pace and longer runs. With only a single 8x200 session, my legs simply did not have a 4:00 mile in them yesterday. As I passed the 1200 mark, the finish line came into view and another shot of adrenaline dropped into my legs, which served me well enough to pass two people and move myself into 8th and make it into the prize money.  I had told myself before the race that if I ran under 4:10, I'd be happy with the race given my short period of training.  I crossed the line at 4:10.9, so just marginally off my goal. It was a really fun event and I'm glad I got the opportunity to race such a competitive field in my new home state!

~100m to go, Photo Credit: Chad Austin (@MinnesotaRunner)

A huge thanks goes out to Grandma's Marathon, which was the organization that put on the race, and Bring Back the Mile, whose mission is to "return the mile to prominence on the American sports and cultural landscape by elevating and celebrating the mile to create a national movement."

A town in love with a race: Duluth, MN

Full Results: