Race Entry
Well, its been on my calendar, and my schedule, but today I finally got around to registering for the Congress Avenue Mile. Its a twisted one mile race - starting on the steps of the Capital (that’s the one down in Austin, y’all, not the fancy one up North) and running one mile South. 
Downhill for most of the way, it boasts a nasty little uphill about a quarter mile before the finish. Needless to say its a fast course (record: 3:47.69) and has a reputation of being brutal on your quads.
As you can see, the scenery is gorgeous. At least for the spectators - as a runner, you’re heading away from the Capital just as fast as you can. Even their motto - Run Every Red Light - is a good one. To top it off, missing this race would disqualify me for the Distance Challenge series, where just by completing eight races I get a dinner, a shirt, and a special area at the marathon (with, the rumor has it, much better post-race food).
So why the hesitation? Simple. I have so not trained for this. My quads are still weak from inactivity, and my speedwork has been all but non-existent for months. Part of my hesitation was that you have to identify your expected finishing time by picking a heat in which to run in, and I had literally no idea how fast I’d go. I still don’t to tell you the truth - but I ended up registering in the 6:31-7:00 heat. I did realize one thing when driving home though - let me list out the available heats:
| 8:00am | 12:01 + |
| 8:15am | 11:01 - 12:00 |
| 8:30am | 10:01 - 11:00 |
| 8:45am | 9:01 - 10:00 |
| 9:00am | 8:31 - 9:00 |
| 9:15am | 8:01 - 8:30 |
| 9:30am | 7:46 - 8:00 |
| 9:45am | 7:31 - 7:45 |
| 9:55am | 7:16 - 7:30 |
| 10:05am | 7:01 - 7:15 |
| 10:15am | 6:31 - 7:00 |
| 10:25am | 6:01 - 6:30 |
| 10:35am | 5:01 - 6:00 |
| 10:45am | - 5:00 |
That’s fourteen heats. I picked the 4th fastest one, because I’m not feeling particularly well-prepared. Think about that for a minute; I sure did. Either I’m going to go out there and crash and burn, or I’m (again) not as slow as I think I am. I keep forgetting that one year ago (almost exactly) I was barely able to run under a 10:00 pace - and my two mile pace record was a blistering 10:12.
Cool. Or as Cartman would say, “Sweet.”
Actually, using the times from my previous 5K race, I should be able to do a flat mile in 7:15 or so. Figuring that I could easily beat that right now (based on my surprising attempt to keep an 8:15 pace for 4K) and plugging in a 24:00 gives me a 6:55 ETA. And both of those ignore the effect of the long downhill. So I think I’m in a reasonable bracket - just one that surprises me.
How will I do? My heat isn’t until 10:15am Monday morning. So I guess I’ll know at around 10:22! Now I’m off for my five miler…
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