Dilworth Four Miler Recap

Time: 57:11
Distance: 8.26 miles
Race: 20:26, 1st (5:06 avg.)

W/u #1: 11:16 for 1.43 miles
W/u #2: 10:04 for 1.23 miles
C/d: 15:25 for 1.60 miles

Rough race.

The morning started with an early wake up and a quick preparation of some Starbuck's Via instant coffee. It's much better than the instant crap we used to drink in college. I milled around the house checking my RSS feed for anything of value. I came across a post from Tim Budic's blog about dew point and the effect it has on the body's ability to sweat. Tim makes the point that it might be in a runner's best interest to move a long run or workout from a day when the dew point is above 64 degrees. However, Tim was still running a track workout, and I was still going to have to run the Dilworth Four Miler. By the way, after reading I checked Charlotte's dew point which was 75 degrees. Awesome.

Meagan and I got to the RFYL parking lot fairly early because I wanted to do a mini-warm up prior to the hydration clinic I was giving. We ran the first 1,000 meters of the course before turning back. The clinic went well for the 6:30 am hour. I think people were more interested in getting to the start line than hear about how to keep one's body from being over/under hydrated.

After the clinic, I got in another 10 minutes of easy running a few strides. I spotted that Bert Rodriguez was in attendance for the first time since the first GPx race. We have raced three times before, each time he has kicked my ass. The first was at the Runway 5k, the second at the Shamrock 4 Miler and the third was up in DC at Cherry Blossom 10 miler. I come from a background where I believe if someone has beaten you three times, he/she, simply put, owns you. I was 0 for 3 versus Bert and I needed a victory against him. I had a feeling that he was coming off an injury because he hasn't raced down in Charlotte for a few months and today might just be my day.

My plan was to go out hard. Before previewing the course I wanted to be through the mile in 4:40. However, I backed off that time because of the hill and I should have adjusted it even more with consideration for the weather.

Splits:
5:01, 5:05, 5:19, 5:00

Race:
I got out relatively hard, but not all that fast. I attack the hill like I wanted. Burt was right on my shoulder for the first 800m before taking over the lead. I was impressed with his ability to run hills as I could tell he's strong on the incline. I battled back from a 2 step disadvantage on the downhill along Lyndhurst and we made the turn onto East just about stride for stride. I was running just off his shoulder for most of the way down East. The pace felt honest but not too ridiculous. I also wasn't feeling fantastic and never really forced the issue because it was early. About 200m from the turn onto Charlotte, I found myself with a few steps of a lead. The pace hadn't changed and Bert was starting to slow.

Frustrated after just missing the water cups.

The advantage grew heading back into the heart of Dilworth and I started pressing a little more to lengthen the advantage. I tried to grab water at the aid station but missed with the lady turned away from me and the guy didn't let go of the cup. It was a little discouraging as I could have really used that cold water on my head. I found Worthington to be cruelly long. Every intersection was a tease and the slight incline made my third mile the slowest of the day.

Nice downhill end to the race.

Getting back on Lyndhurst was a bit of a relief, but the hill up to McDonald wasn't kind. It wasn't very long or steep, rather it came at just the right time to make the body hurt. I took a few glances behind to see how hard I was going to have to push down and couldn't see anyone in sight. It was now a race against the clock knowing I had messed things up during the third mile. I finished well within myself and was a little hesitant to fly downhill. Again, I need to do something to open my stride up more.

Approaching the finish. Only a police officer in sight.

I crossed the line a few clicks under 20:30 which was about a minute slower than I wanted to run. I think most people ran slower today than they would have liked for various reason, number one being the dew point (not the heat and humidity). Ben Hovis was out snapping some photos of the Charlotte Running Club (see pics). He also said that I just missed his PR on the course by a couple of seconds. Next year.