For those of you that have read the comments from my Throw Another Log on the Fire post, you would know that Aaron Sarff had challenged me to a friendly duel at the Sizzling Mile.
The evening started off with a 1 mile warm up on the track with Aaron, and that was the last I saw of Aaron until the start. We both started toward the rear of the pack. We were running in the 5:00 to 5:30 heat. The big dogs: Eric, Greg, Billy, just to name a few. I would have never dreamed of running the mile with them just a few years ago. ( I guess I didn’t really run with them, I ran behind them…)
Anyhow the whistle blew and we were off. The first lap went by pretty quickly. I think I was right on 1:20. I felt great, and I was hoping I could keep that pace for the next 3 laps.
The second lap was just a bit slower, maybe a second or two.
The third lap, I was starting to feel it. And by the end of it Aaron had passed me.
I got Sarff’d
On lap four, I was just trying to hold on. I could hear a few foot steps behind me, but I wasn’t sure how many. Aaron was well up the road and I was just worried about getting under 5:30. Otherwise I probably shouldn’t have been in that heat.
I crossed the finish and my watch read 5:26, (I think?) but I will go with the “official” times when I see them.
Afterwards I had the taste of blood in my mouth. And felt like I was going to die. It was just that bad. I can only hope I wasn’t the only one. I can’t wait to do this again next year.
Oh… I may have gotten Sarff’d, but at least I didn’t elbow the 12 year old behind me at the finish (see the photo)…
