Monday, April 25, 2011

Who Bothers With a 2 Mile Race These Days? Answer: Me

I really don't recall reading a blog out there in blog land that talks about running a 2 mile race.  The shortest distance I remember reading about are 5ks.  My theory is most runners serious enough to blog are also serious enough to target a race that lasts longer than what it takes them to drive/walk to the starting line, and let's face it, 2 miles is barely a warm up to a (half) marathoner.  I don't even bother doing training runs under 5 or 6 miles, except at the end of a taper (or unless I'm late).

So what am I doing running a 2 mile race?  The short answer is I got into a habit of doing one per year, particularly this one. There are other reasons like, I try to PR, I can recover quickly, and the probability of an age group award goes up as the distance goes down.  Besides, it can still be a challenge trying to maintain a stride that's about 2 minutes per mile faster than my marathon pace.

Saturday I ran the Easter SunRun here in Wichita.  Before the 2 mile race, there was a 10k, which I believe thinned out the pool for the 2 miler.  What I'm foreshadowing is, a lot of the runners who can run faster than me opt to run the 10k instead.

There is not a lot to talk about during the race.  The weather was near ideal:  Fifty degree temps with cloudy skies, but a bit of wind out of the North.  It was a loop course, and the wind was nice to have at my back for the last part, but that didn't make up for running into the wind the first mile.

Who has really tried and actually raced 2 miles before?  It is some of the most painful running I do.  My heart rate goes through the roof right from the start.  In fact, I'll include my HR chart from the race:



As you can see, my HR hits 180 within 2 minutes of the start, and tops out at over 200.  I don't usually have reason to mention it much, but I've got a combination of allergies and asthma, and about the halfway point, I felt them both starting to act up on me.  After the race was over, I couldn't get back to the car fast enough to take a few puffs from my inhaler and blow my congested nose.  I was disappointed to find there were more of my wife's maxi pads (∞) than Kleenexes (1) in all my car's compartments, WTF.  I wonder if feminine hygiene products make good facial tissues?   So that was one more adversary I had to deal with that day.  (BTW, if you know what the "∞" symbol is, you might be a nerd)

I digress, so back to the race...  I was up far enough in the race that the runners were pretty spread out.  In the last mile, I managed to pass a couple dudes, and even pull a reverse chick without being passed myself.  Down the home stretch, I was all alone, so no drama there, but I did have some kick left, so I tried to shave an extra second or two off my final time.  My Garmin says I finished in 12:14, but the official results think it's more like 12:22.  My race stats:

2Slow4Boston Easter SunRun 2M
Chip Time12:22
Overall Place10/834
Age Group1/34
Average Pace6:11

Notice, contrary to 2Slow4Boston's style,  I placed 1st in my age group, so for my troubles, I received a medal:

My fingernails don't look half bad for a guy.


One of the draws of the Easter SunRun is post race food.  Hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, chips, potato salad, cookies are all standard fare.  You don't even have to have a bib number to partake.

Tons of volunteers and several serving lines to handle the hungry crowd.

About 4 tables full of mostly home made cookies to choose from.


One last thing.  I wrote a blog post about a week ago, that never showed up in the blogger list/dashboard/reader, so I'm going to back link to it in case you're going through 2Slow4Boston withdrawal, you feel sorry for me, you need more blogs to read, you care ☺.  To paraphrase, I blogged about getting into the Pikes Peak Ascent and my training.

26 comments:

Michael said...

Wow, congrats on the 1st place finish. That's a super fast time! I've never done a 2 mile race. I think it would be alot harder than most think if you wanted to "race" it. I don't race anything....just slowly move along :)

Meg O @watchmegorun said...

congrats on first place in AG, that is AWESOME! I've never done a 2 miler, but I think I'd try it, just to see what it's like. I bet you're glad you did once you got that medal :)

Christi said...

Great on job on the race! First in your age group is nothing to "sneeze" at! :)

misszippy said...

Nothing wrong with a 2-mile race! My club has a weekly series and often incorporates a 2-mile race into that. Congrats on the win!

Dr. said...

2 miles sounds awful! I hate anything around a 5K distance so I can't imagine racing a 2 miler! You are awesome!!

Nelly said...

Awesome job! Looking at that heartrate chart the race looks incredibly painful, haha Can't believe that your heartrate went to 200, that must be really close to your max heartrate - my max is about 200 I think. The highest number I've ever seen on my heartrate monitor is 198 I think. You must have been completely dying over the last half mile!

I haven't raced 2 miles since high school, and I really don't have much desire to race it again, because in my opinion the shorter the race the more intense pain it is over that distance - so now the shortest race I generally do is 5 miles =) Congrats on the age group win!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

OH NO I AM A NERD!!! I knew what the symbol meant

Ok, I will muster enough credibilty to finish my comment

I heard of 1 mile beer runs, not a 2 mile race

CONGRATS on the first place finish

XLMIC said...

∞ maxipads! sheesh... and I can never find one when I need one... maybe all of mine are hiding in my car, too ;-) And you can totally use them to blow your nose!

Awesome job on the race! Wooo Weee... fast, fast, fast! Congratulations!

A Prelude To... said...

I had no idea that there was such a thing as two mile race! I always joke that I'm running out of races and I'm going to have nowhere to go soon. My first race ever was a marathon and I've gradually gone down in distance since then. I finally did a 5k last month...and now I guess I need to find a local 2 miler!

A Prelude To... said...

oh ya - re: feminine hiegene products - I have a picture of my uncle etched in my memory from my childhood. My mom and I picked him up from the dentist and his mouth wouldn't stop bleeding and he ran right through all the gauze pads the dentist gave him...so...
my mom grabbed a tampon out of her purse and he used that as gauze. I totally remember the string hanging out of his mouth :D

ajh said...

Awesome job. There are no 2 mile races around here. I've got to go check out that missed post.

ShutUpandRun said...

First in your age group??? You might need to revisit the name of this blog. I once wrote a post about the many uses of tampons (other than the obvious). I think pads would make a fine and rather plush facial tissue.

Johann said...

That's a super time and well done on the age group win! I've never run a race of less than 10km.

Jill said...

The only 2-mile race around here is one my son's band puts on as a funraiser - I love it cuz it's all the band moms running and I can usually kick their butts. Except when I'm injured and not running. Like now. My other son runs the 2-miler in track and sorry to tell you that as a freshman, he still beat ya. But he gets professional running help so don't worry about that! Congrats on your win, that's awesome.

Ok, will go and read your PP post....

Being Robinson said...

nice win, sir! good seeing you at the race. until sunday, wherein we beat some ass!

Jim ... 50after40 said...

AWESOME!!! I've never won my AG, it's one of my goals! Looks like you killed it - great time! Your fingernails look fantastic! Very manicured!

Doug said...

Good job on the 2 miler! I haven't run that fast since high school when those were normal in track. It's actually considered the long run. I'd be happy to finish a minute behind you on a 2 miler.

And pad thing? Just don't use the sticky side on your face.

Cara @ EAT. PRAY. RUN. said...

Found your blog --- good stuff! I love your honesty and keep it up and you'll be @ Boston one day. I ran two 7:30 miles today and almost died, I don't know how people keep that pace! For now i'll strive to get below a 9 for the whole 26.2 ;)

Good luck with your running. I'll be following!

Chris K said...

Dude, you killed that. I am super impressed with that time. 1st out of 34 is awesome. Congrats.

From what I hear, there are some really popular 1 mile and 2 mile races in Denver (or Boulder).

There is no frigging way I could hold that pace for 2 miles.

Amanda@runninghood said...

Awesome job!!! Gosh, you're Mr. Popular...I had to scroll all the way down here just to comment. :) You rock. And Yes, I was a Jehovah's Witness for the first 12 years of my life and then we left and never went back. Made for an interesting childhood. :)

Unknown said...

Congrats on the podium finish ;-)

Evolving Through Running said...

First place .... hell yeah! Nice work sir.

That's a killer pace for 2 miles. I can't even dial that up in 1/2 mile repeats. 2 slow for Boston? maybe (so far), but plenty slow to whip me.

Anonymous said...

Nice job!!! Congratulations on your race and the AG win!

Tortuga_Runner said...

I so want to start a "You're #1" chant;)

Unknown said...

congratulations on the race. (ps the food pictures are making me hungry.. ;p)
http://beboldrunwild.blogspot.com/

Nelly said...

For some reason I was thinking of you because of all these problems blogger has been having the past couple days. If you only post once every week or 2, these kind of problems don't affect you! haha Though I did lose the final edits I made to a post, which kind of annoying, so hopefully my post is restored as well, haha