Club Challenge Marathon Relay has been run

Out of 17 teams Melrose Running Club came in 7th. This is what I was hoping for: better than last year. We beat the next team by just 22 seconds. To everyone on Team MRC, thanks for pushing just a bit harder when you felt like giving up!

Out of 62 men in the 40-49 bracket, I came in 46th with a 6:36 pace. I beat last year’s run of 6:50 by 14 seconds and moved from the 88 percentile to the 74th percentile.

14 seconds isn’t a big improvement for most runners, but for a road runner like me, it’s pretty big. I only run the 1-mile distance at this relay and once at the Jennifer Tinney 4th of July race. 14 seconds off of a 5K is nice, but not a big deal.

I’m used to a 5K sprint, but a 1-mile sprint is much more intense. It’s all out, but just like a marathon you have to be in control. It’s important to maintain a consistent pace for four laps and conserve enough energy for a strong finish.

If I could shave 14 seconds off of every mile for a marathon I would cut my finish time by more than 6 minutes. That would be significant!

The Tuft’s track is a modern rubber track and the soft impact and springiness feels odd on my feet. I need to spend more time on a track and learn how to run this distance.

Thanks again to the Somerville Road Runners for organizing this event. It is fun to hang out with runners from other local clubs, and some not so local. Someone even came up to me and told me they read my blog every day! Maybe that’s how I ran so fast.

Run well my friends and enjoy the weekend!

Andy

© anagelin 2014

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