Saturday will be the third time I've run the Minnesota Distance Running Association 7 Mile. The last time I ran it was in 2012 when I ran 41:05. In 2011 I ran it in 40:44, but it the course was short, registering only 6.8 miles on my Garmin, so I'm going to have to count the 2012 race as my PR for good conscience.
This will be my second race of the season, and I'm hoping to show an improvement from the MDRA 4 mile and run a somewhat better time. Not better as in faster than my four mile time--that would mean running at a pace of just over three minutes per mile, which I believe is most likely physiologically impossible. Instead, I want to be able to run a better equivalent time.
Running a better equivalent time, as calculated by the McMillan Running Calculator. McMillan suggests that I should be able to run a 40:08 based on my recent 4 mile time. This may be a little overly ambitious as the MDRA 7 Mile is known as a tough course, and while there were some hills at the Lake Johanna 4 Mile, I remember the hills at the MDRA 7 Mile being quite a bit tougher.
Still, I'm going to give it a shot. Running under 40:08 will be a stretch--I'll need to average under 5:44 per mile to do it, but I don't think it's totally out of the question. So, on with the A, B, and C goals.
A: Break 40:08
B. Set a PR
C. Break 41:30
Saturday's supposed to be pretty chilly, so running in the cold may hamper my efforts at a PR, but I'll give it a shot. Although I technically set a PR at the MDRA 4 Mile (it was my only 4 mile race), I haven't really set a PR in over a year.
Happy Running!
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