RACE REPORT: 2024 Raspberry Run 1 Mile

The day before the race, the boys and I went to pick up our race numbers and soem GU:

All us boys are racing!


Henry and I had our first caprese from our garden for supper the night before!


Oh shoot... POURING rain 2 hours pre-race as I got gas!


Large puddle forming next to our house!


It was going to let up, but still be drizzly through the noon start time.


The 5 mile race starting 15 mins late because of the weather.


Wet blankets set out for the upcoming parade.
(This is right on the 1 mile race course.)


Pre-race tradition.


Team photo pre-race!


Selfie with the boys before heading back to the car 1 last time.


More teammates pre-race.


And one last photo before stepping out onto the start line!

I had HIGH HOPES for this race. I've had 3 lifetime PRs over the last few months (a 5 mile PR, a 10K PR, and a 5K PR) and some of my best long runs ever as well as lots of "dates" with the track. As mentioned in my last post, I was aiming for a PR at this race! And it had been on my mind for the last 52 weeks! My goal was to beat my 4:49.53 PR from when I was 29 years old... yikes!!

I was pretty much telling myself to start fast enough and to suffer a LOT through the race. Here's what I was saying to myself, which was slightly touched on in my pre-race post on Saturday:

"Shoot for 1/4 mile splits of 1:11.5, because that's a finishing time of 4:46, which provides a little cushion to be under 4:49.53. If 1:10 for each 1/4 mile is a 4:40 mile, then I can be keeping track of how much OVER 1:10 each 1/4 mile is, and I want to keep that number under 6. (For example: 1:11.7 and 1:11.8 for the first 2 splits is 3.5 [1.7 + 1.8], so my final 2 splits would have to be a little faster [2.5 total] to keep me from going over 6.)

I won't have the mental capacity for math as I'm working hard near the end, but that's OK: it's really all about making sure my first 2 splits are fast enough to give myself a shot! If my first split is a little slow, hopefully I can 'correct' it with the 2nd split and still have a chance at my goal. But if my first 2 splits are both too slow, it might be 'game over' by the half mile mark. The final 2 splits will just be what they can be, but I have to give myself a shot by being fast enough in the first half!"

This was the first time this race was CHIP timed (and not just GUN timed), so that was a plus! And it was 2 waves as well: the USATF runners (which included my team, sort of obviously) were the first wave, and then EVERYONE else (which included my boys) were the second wave. We were supposed to go at 12:00 and 12:10, but because the 5 mile started late, we were going to go off at 12:10 and 12:15.

"ON YOUR MARKS.... GOOOOOO!!!!!......."

I took off pretty cleanly. Yes, there was a little slippage on the damp roads, but nothing horrible - I just made it a point to stay off the painted marks because they were SLIPPERY. I felt like I was going perfectly hard, and thought I might be turning in a 1:10 first 1/4 mile which would have been a nice cushion. I was close, but a bit slower than that:

• FIRST 1/4 MILE: 1:11.1. "OK. Decent. A 0.4 sec cushion. Keep it strong!"

I started passing a lot of people in this next 1/4 mile! People who had gone out a little "hot" were starting to drop, and I felt strong as I was passing them. Moving in the right direction!

• SECOND 1/4 MILE: 1:12.0. "Gave back a little, but still just 0.1 sec slower than my PR pace goal! KEEP IT STRONG HERE!!"

My brain was working well enough yet that I knew I was at 2:23.1 half way through, which was on track for a 2:46.2 PR. I was suffering and going strong yet! I wasn't passing people any more, but I was holding my own. I was near Doron Clark who's often faster than me, and I felt good about that!

• THIRD 1/4 MILE: 1:12.5. "Gave back a little too much there. NOW SUFFER. HOLD ON. JUST GO."

A friend spied me in this IG story. I'm clearly the worst looking of these 3. Ouch.

I was still on pace for a 2 sec PR at this point! I knew even if I slowed up a little, I might have a shot at a PR. But I was slowing up a LOT. I was DYING. I felt like I'd hit a few decent strides, and then slow way up. And then I'd try to pick up the pace again, but that would last for a few seconds. I was all over the place and just falling apart. (The funny thing was being passed by a FEW people, but it seemed like I should have been passed by DOZENS the way I felt!) I hit the finish thinking I had a 50/50 shot of having PRed, knowing that I gave back a lot of time in that last 1/4 mile. But it did NOT go my way...

• FINAL 1/4 MILE: 1:17.1. "Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch."

I didn't know my final 1/4 mile split right away, but I did a double take at my Garmin when I saw it reading 4:52.xx at the finish line. I knew it would be bad, but I didn't think it'd be THAT bad. I REALLY gave back a lot of time as I was dying in those final meters.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, Male, 43, St. Paul

4:52

39 out of 195 overall
36 out of 115 men
6 out of 21 in the M 40-49 age group

[Garmin: 4:52.6]

Yikes. That final split. REALLY HAPPY I gave myself a shot at my
PR with my opening splits, but just didn't have it in the tank to hold on!


Good start, then SLOWING in the last 1/4 mile!


WORKING!


I don't believe that my HR dropped, but that pace chart
shows me trying to make that last 1/4 mile work!


According to the "age grade calculator" on the USATF website, I ran a 83.63%!!
That's my highest ever! (Beating last year's "age graded PR" of 83.01%.)

Sure, I was bummed, but I was happy that I put forth the effort in the first half to make the PR even POSSIBLE. I just couldn't hang on. I'd have much rather had that than going out too slow and building but ending just short of the PR. I nailed my race plan for 3/4 of the race, and just didn't have the fitness to quite pull it off. I'm OK with that!

I saw wave 2 running down the road shortly after I finished. And it wasn't long before I saw Henry! With the races going off at random times (because of the weather), I didn't know what his time would be. But he walked back to me after finishing saying he thought it was under 6:15! (Pre-race, he was thinking around 6:30 would be great!) Apparently, he hit the 1/2 mile clock in 3:03!

6:12 officially!!!

And Charlie was less than 2 minutes behind him! Charlie was thinking he could break 9:00 (we thought he could be closer to 8:30), but he came in at 8:09!!

How long before these guys are beating me?!?!?

We walked back to the car and got some DQ on the way home:

Henry digging in!


Charlie shivering a bit from the ice cream and from being wet from the race.

Back with more shortly!