Four on the Fourth 4K Race Report

The Four on the Fourth 4K was my second race of the day, and third within five days. A week prior, Darren had recommended I run this race and gave me a goal of a 6:20 pace. I’m not entirely sure if he’d been considering the other races when he came up with that number.. generally he has us not run at all the week following a marathon, much less race?? Oh well, I figured I’d go out and see what my legs could do!

I drove right from the Downhill Mile to the start of this race, but there was a good hour to settle down before starting again. I didn’t eat between the races, but I had some Monster Amino and kombucha. I changed from my Hokas to my Brooks racers, and met up with some of the RRBs: Steve Fether, Fred, Sarah and Rick and Laura Bruess were all racing.

As we headed to the start, the other racers were sizing up their competition. Apparently lots of folks come out to this race, sponsored by Avery Brewing, for the prizes. Age group winners get a case of beer, and second and third place take home 2 6-packs. There was also a prize for the fastest combined time between the Downhill mile and this one, but I saw plenty of familiar backs and knew I had no chance for that. (Backs rather than faces because they were ahead of me!)

I didn’t realize this race wasn’t chip-timed until it was too late and I was too far back in the crowd to do anything about it. So when we started, I was dodging and expending energy trying to get around folks. It had also started to get pretty toasty!

I knew Darren had set a goal of 6:20 pace for me, but I realized that I had no idea what that actually meant in terms of overall time. How long is 4K anyway??? I kept myself busy trying to do some rough math for awhile.

The course had a lot of sharp turns, so it wasn’t exactly the fastest. I hit the first mile at 6:22, which was fine. I didn’t feel like 6:20s were in the cards for today, but I was just marvelling that my legs were doing ok! My second mile was in 6:31. The next bit of the course was uphill again and I found myself struggling. My legs were ok but I just didn’t have that oomph I needed. I had passed Rick just before mile 2 and he caught up and encouraged me to keep going, which helped! I picked it up for the last quarter mile or so and cruised in for an overall time of 16:23 (6:36mm).

Interestingly enough, I was 14th female. I placed 14th in the Leadville marathon Saturday, and although I didn’t know it at the time, I’d also been 14th in the mile in the morning. How odd?

The best part was when results were posted, and I placed 2nd in my age group – beer for me! All the RRBs did great, actually:

Sarah – 4th overall, 2nd in her AG
Laura – 1st in her AG with a new course record
Fred – 2nd in his AG
Steve – 2nd in his AG

There was a nice spread of food and free beer for runners, which was a nice way to relax after some hard running! I did have some beer despite the fact I know my body doesn’t like it, which was dumb. I spent part of the afternoon miserable in bed, a combination of the heat and a ridiculous headache, to the point where I actually got sick. So, my roommates will enjoy my winnings…!

Although I didn’t meet the goal Darren had thrown out, I’m really happy with how the race went. I honestly wasn’t sure if my legs would be ok if I tried to put in a hard effort. I can’t help but think those nice cushy Hokas I wore Saturday made a difference…. my heart rate got up to 191 in this race, which was actually higher than in the mile in the morning!

Results: