I followed up my successful afternoon workout with the Tidewater Striders Summer Series Predict Your Time 4 Miler – an interesting race where you predict the time (surprise, surprise) it will take to cover a pre-determined distance. In previous years the distance has been four miles but this year for some reason it was shortened to 3.8 miles. Anyway, it sounds simple but you’re not allowed to wear a watch, heart rate monitor, GPS or any other timing device – kind of tricky when you’re used to technology pacing you on your runs.
Initially I was tempted to predict a comfortable 28:30 (7:30 per mile pace), but after talking to a few friends soon changed my mind and [foolishly] went for an ambitious 24:59.
It’s always odd when the gun goes off to start this race. I look around and notice several runners instinctively reach to start their watches, but on this occasion their wrists are bare – no stopwatches allowed. Several more glance down at their bare wrists as we round the first corner, presumably to check their non-existent GPS pace. Quite comical really.
I settle in to an early rhythm. Is it too fast? Is it too slow? Who knows. My judgment seems off tonight so I just go with the flow and latch on to a group of high school runners. We chat about cycling and duathlons and triathlons and school and college and other stuff. Before I know it we’ve completed one of the 1.9 mile loops and heading back out to complete the second.
Towards the end I start to feel tired. The faster high schoolers pull away slightly and leave me wondering what pace I’ve been running at. I cross the line and glance back at the turned-around finish line clock which reads 24:29 – 30 seconds too fast and an average pace of 6:27 per mile. Not a bad effort considering my 6 mile workout just an hour earlier, but not close enough to my predicted time of 24:59 to win any prizes…..
Enjoyable evening and a nice 10 miles in the bank.
PS Thanks kids for the company – I enjoyed the chat!
That sounds like a really fun event. Mental note to self…time to move to a more densely populated country!