I'm No Roger Bannister....

For those non running history buffs, Roger Bannister was the first runner to break the 4 minute mile in 1954. With no great illusions of breaking that barrier I headed out for a run with Lauren on Sunday. We did our usual loop on the Haverford College trail and then stopped by the track to see if I could cross off one more goal (sub 6:00 mile) before 2008 came to a close. Lauren dutifuly sat in the stands and I toed the starting line. Having not run too much lately and chilly temperatures (44 or so), I had a sufficient number of excuses if I didn't succeed!

I told myself to go out at a moderate pace around 1:30 a lap and hope that I'd have a late kick. So much for that as I made the first lap in 1:15. I was definitely pushing a little too hard, but oh well, at least I had a time buffer now! I definitely felt the effects mentally and physically on lap two, but I held on to run that in 1:35 (2:50) with a high 5 from my on track cheerleader. With only 10 seconds to play with I knew I really needed to have a strong 3rd lap. On the back stretch of lap 3 I was really struggling and felt the strong breeze in my face tempting me not to make it. I rounded the bend and completed that in 1:34 (4:24). I knew I had a shot at it now, but that I'd really need to focus. I pushed myself around the track and forced myself to relax on the last turn and just focus on Lauren at the finish line. I gave it a hard last kick and clicked my watch at the mile mark. Bent in half I finally stumbled back over to Lauren and held up the watch for us to see if I'd made it...

5:53 looked up at us both from my watch and another 2008 goal had been accomplished! It took me a bit to recover, but I was really happy to cross it off the mirror when I got home. It's almost time to write up my 2009 goals, maybe a new PR in the mile will be on it!