I had set my original mark to beat in the midst of a sinus infection and in the wake of my stepfather’s death. I had never raced a mile before, and all things considered, the blowup I had during that race isn’t really all that surprising. Thankfully, a month later at my redemption race, I was in a much better place mentally, physically, and athletically. It also helped that I now knew how long a mile race really could be.

Mile races are much more compelling when they take place on a track. It’s more romantic when everyone’s lined up in their lane and it’s four (and a smidge) laps around the track. This race took place in a municipal park on a stretch of road with baseball fields and soccer fields lining either side. Not really ideal scenery, but I can’t say I was particularly focused on the scenery, to be honest.

I set up my watch to give me quarter-mile splits so I knew if I was on pace to break seven minutes, which is what I figured I should have run last time if everything had gone right. That was the mark I was really trying to beat. Despite trying to stay conservative with the first quarter, I ran my fastest split with a 1:35. When I saw that, I knew I was going too fast and tried to reel it in, and the next two splits were a 1:38 and a 1:40. With a quarter mile left, I knew that I had over twenty seconds in the bank, so even if I couldn’t hold onto the pace, I’d still squeak in under seven minutes.

My heart was thudding faster than my feet with a quarter mile left to go, so I gathered everything I had left in me and busted out a 1:37 final quarter mile for a 6:28 time. I never expected to come in that far under 7:00, much less under 6:30 at all. That PR was good for second overall female in the mile, falling short only to a competitor with a fantastic 5:47 time.

Hopefully by the end of this next training cycle, I might be able to get in under six minutes. It’ll probably be a stretch, but since the Carrollton Runners Club puts these mile races on every month, I’m looking forward to going back and testing myself again after a cycle of Pfitz and in some cooler weather.