One Mile Time Trial / The Running Wife

Over the past two months, Katie has been regularly going out on four mile runs and stopping on the way home to get in a workout at the Brown County YMCA.  Needless to say, she continues to improve which is especially exciting to watch for an injured armchair runner like myself.

This week, the Indiana Running Company and BARA (Bloomington Area Runners Association) hosted a one mile time trial at IU's Gladstein Fieldhouse indoor track.  This banked one eight of a mile oval is very fun to run on, and I have fond memories of warming up around the hallways of the connected Assembly Hall before interval workouts on the track.  I mentioned the idea to Katie and she was excited to give it a shot.  On wednesday night, we headed over to the fieldhouse for another excellent "benchmark" for Katie and some much missed runner socialization for myself.


I served as the starter and lap counter for all the heats, including Katie's heat with a number of other mostly female runners.  I completely enjoyed watching her developing smooth stride and fitness on display.  Halfway through her eight laps she look relaxed and at ease, easily keeping pace with the group's "rabbit" (Ben Bartley).  This continued and she ran well with an excellently executed last lap at a faster pace.  I talked to her after the mile, and she had felt at ease and ready to pass the "rabbit" after the second lap, but didn't want to mess up the pace of the group so held off and kept running easy.  Yet she still finished the mile in 6:36!


I'm not sure when the next local 5K will be, but I'll excited to be there and watch Katie race again.