Race Recap: Steamboat 4m

I ran the World's Fastest 4 miles yesterday!  My goal was to finish in under 36 minutes, and I squeaked in at 35:55 chip time.  I ran approximately an 8:59 pace, which has become the norm for me in these short distance races.  Must admit, I was secretly hoping for a little better than that, but I'll take it.

The night before, I was up and down all night with an upset stomach.  By time the alarm went off at 5am, I had just found sleep.  We arrived downtown around 6am.  The temperatures were low 70's, but humidity was high.  Rain was on the horizon, but thankfully it held off until after the race.  After a warmup jog to the start area, we chatted away with numerous friends.  It's fun running a race in your hometown because you know so many people running!

I lined up between the 8:30 and 9:00 pace corrals next to the group of Peoria Firemen (see photo below).  The crowd moved fairly quick out of the gate.  My legs felt strong, but lately I've been having problems breathing in the humid summer air and today was no exception. I tried to not make it an excuse and pushed on.

Always a favorite, the Peoria Fireman run in full uniform to honor
the fallen of 9/11.  This year, some of their brothers from
New York joined them for the classic run.

The mile 2 turnaround by the park statue was pretty congested and I nearly turned an ankle on the uneven pavement.  During mile 3, there were four water sprinklers giving runners a nice cool mist. I never stopped for water drinks, but I ran through every sprinkler for relief.

Shortly after the mile 3 marker, I saw a friend came up on my right.  Right there, I said, "Oh-no, he is not going to beat me."  I took off and never looked back.  Turning the last corner onto Hamilton, the final 1/2 mile was all downhill.  There was a nice gap along the edge of the road.  I took it and zoomed past people like crazy.  I was having fun at this point.  I suddenly found a huge bucket of energy and tried to use it up before the finish.

As I approached the final turn, a group of guys formed a wall in front of me... One of my race pet peeves is people who run a race like this... and then to top things off, they were jogging with only a block to go... another pet peeve.  I was frustrated and lacking energy to get around them.  So I yelled "GO!"  Startling them, a couple guys turned around to look, opening a small hole in their wall.  I bolted through it and sprinted to the finish.

Mile 1 - 8:49

Mile 2 - 9:02

Mile 3 - 9:11

Mile 4 - 8:53

Chip Time: 35:55

Gun time was 36:18, placing me #1095 out of 3382 in the 4 mile race.  Top 1/3.
In my age group, I placed #29 out of 221.  Happy with that one!

The Men's Winner, Kevin Chelimo from Kenya, finished in 18:02
(World Record was set on this course at 17:24 in 1995)

The Women's Winner, Diane Nukuri from Burundi, finished in 20:41
(World Record was set on this course at 19:28 also in 1995)

The most disappointing part of the race was THE WATER!  We had to walk a good 1/8 mile past the finish line to get water... and then it was WARM.  I mean almost hot.  I nearly spit out my first drink.  They need to put the beer guys in charge of the water... Thankfully the free beer was ICE COLD.  

I hung out by the finish line cheering-in friends and watching the leaders of the 15K race roll in.  Then I made my way to the party area, chatted with friends, and drank as much free beer as I could!  What a fun day!