The Montpelier Mile & Other Festivities

I know many of you may cringe when I say this, but the mile is my favorite race. I love it. It's speedy, it's challenging, and it's over within mere minutes. I only know of one mile race in Vermont, the annual Montpelier Mile at the start of the July 3rd parade (yep, that's how we do it in Montpelier, a July 3rd parade, 'cause we can).

The tricky thing about the mile race for me is pacing. I get so used to running longer races that I forget that with a mile I don't really need to settle in to a pace the way I do with a 10k or half-marathon. So for this race, I had focused on training with some 400s, to remember what speed feels like and to get a sense of how hard I needed to push.

But come race day, I fell into the pace trap. I found myself hanging back cautiously after the first quarter, then remembering I could push harder in the last quarter when it was just a little too late. The good news is I broke 6 minutes, my first goal, the bad news is I had way too much gas left in my tank at the finish. But that extra bit of energy was nice to have for watching the parade that followed with my 3 boys. And, there's nothing like running in front of hundreds of people to charge up your spirits. I loved hearing people cheering for me, thanks for all the support friends!

Lesson learned: run hard with a mile race, it should feel like a sprint. If anyone knows of another mile race within a couple hours drive of Montpelier, please let me know. I'm ready for my next one! And, thanks Onion River Sports for organizing my favorite race of the year!

Next race on my calendar: Caspian Challenge, a 6.8 mile race around Caspian Lake in Greensboro. I'm looking forward to this hilly but beautiful course.