RACE REPORT: Raspberry Run 1 Mile

Race reports often start with a gross selfie of me in a porta potty taking care of my nervous pre-race bowels, but this one starts with a cute selfie of my wife and I out the night before the race for our 22nd anniversary:

Half our lives together! (Because we are 44. #Math)


Oh... HERE'S the gross pre-race selfie!

My boys and I were ready to race a mile! It was a sunny 80 degree race that started at noon. It's point-to-point down main street in Hopkins, MN. After skipping 2 track workouts to race a duathlon in early June and then having a CRAZY BUSY June (4 days "up north" with 4 kids, camping in WI for 3 days, Hawaii trip with my family for 10 days, and 2 days in Milwaukee for a fencing tournament for Henry), I knew I wasn't in tip-top shape, but I still was hoping to break 5:00. I did this race a number of times pre-Covid, and now it would by my 4th year in a row: I ran 4:56 in 2022, then 4:52 in 2023, and then 4:52 in 2024 (last year) as I went out hard and then died as I shot for 4:48.

The boys and I finished in the porta potties near the finish line (which was the new "race central" for the event), and then we walked the course backwards to the start. I said good-bye and good luck to the boys (they started in wave 2 which was 10 minutes after the USATF wave that I was in) and got up to the starting line. I was about 5 or 6 rows back, and I figured it was a good spot for me. I was hoping to see sub-1:15 for the first 1/4 mile, then see how much I could "hold on" for the rest of the race! Sub-5:00 was the best possible day, and I was going for it!!

"3... 2... 1... GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

I took off and was instantly passed about about 4 people around me. I kept up a little, and I didn't know if I was going out FAST or SLOW. I settled in after a minute and was SO CURIOUS what my first 1/4 mile split would be...

• FIRST 1/4 MILE: 1:12.4. "Fast, but not TOO fast. Back off a LITTLE so you don't die!"

Yeah, I was NOT thinking I had a shot at a sub-4:49 PR... I was worried about dying before the finish like I did last year even though I still felt good at the moment. The 2nd split would tell me a lot...

• SECOND 1/4 MILE: 1:17.6. "RIGHT at 2:30.00 (or 5:00.00 pace), so pick it up here!"

I was aware that even to the tenths of a second that was I was PERFECTLY at 5:00 pace overall right now. I pretty much stuck with everyone around me and worked my way to the 3/4 mark. I felt like I'd have a perfect amount "left in the tank" to have a faster finish without sandbagging the race and leaving TOO much for the final kick.

• THIRD 1/4 MILE: 1:16.0. "1 second behind my goal pace! YOU CAN MAKE THAT UP! GO HAAAAARD!!!"

I took off. I almost IMMEDIATELY passed about 5 guys around me. I felt like I was flying. (And dying, but moving in the right direction!) I worked my way up through a dead spot in the race to more people in front of me. One guy came past me quickly on the left and kind of cut me off, but I just veered to the right next to him and I think I ended up passing him back again. I knew I'd be right around 5 minutes flat, and I was working hard to be under that!

But then my watch beeped for the fourth 1/4 mile split, and I still had 2 seconds before I was at the finish line. I didn't look at the split, but I knew at that moment that I didn't break 5:00 - even if it was a second or 2 or 3 faster than my last split, I still had a few seconds to add before I hit the finish line. Dang it. No sub-5:00 for me this year.

• FOURTH 1/4 MILE: 1:14.8.

Then another 2.3 seconds to get to the finish line.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, 44, M, St. Paul

5:04

51 out of 168 overall
47 out of 104 male
8 out of 17 in the 40-49 age group

[Garmin: 5:03.2 for 1.01 miles]

I set my Garmin to take auto-splits ever 0.25 mile, and here's how they looked:

5:00.9 after 1 "Garmin" mile, and then another 2.3 secs to the finish.

That 2nd split needed to be faster. And if it was, I would have ran out of gas before the finish line. Officially, it's my slowest 1-mile ever: I ran a 5:00.7 as my first 1-mile back in 2008, and then I ran a 5:02.3 in 2018, and those were my only 2 other 1-mile times that were slower than 5:00. I finished, jogged back to my car to grab my phone, and got back on the race course just in time to see the large 2nd wave coming towards me (with 634 runners in it!!):

Henry running by! His goal was a PR (under 6:11) and he finished in 6:01!


Charlie looking shocked because he wanted to finished sub-8 and he saw the time of 7:32!!


There's always a firetruck spraying water for anyone who wants it past the finish line!


With the giant raspberry post-race! Nice job boys!!


Tank top sunburn that evening. Oops.


Messages from BFFFN (best friend forever for now) Devon Palmer.

So it goes down as my slowest 1-mile, but some KILLER times for my boys. If Henry has a good (first) cross country season this fall and also runs track in the spring, I suspect he could beat me in the mile by next year... time will tell!!