It’s been one week since the San Francisco Marathon and wouldn’t you know- I’ve already run another race since then… I’m sure this comes as no surprise. The Batesville 4 Mile Classic was the 12th race on the Arkansas Grand Prix series and it’s been on my running calendar all year. This is my first year attempting Iron Runner (running all 20 races in the GP series) so it’s been quite a learning experience. Race events have ranged from one mile through the marathon with a bit of everything in between.
The Batesville 4 Mile Classic is a fairly challenging course so I wasn’t sure what to expect 6 days post marathon. For as hilly as SFM was my recovery has gone surprisingly well. We did walk around a lot in the two days immediately following the marathon around San Francisco and then at the airport so I’m wondering if that helped. I also had a 45 minute sports therapy massage Wednesday and my PT worked my hips and legs hard. I swam for about 20 minutes later Wednesday but that was the extent of my exercise. Friday was my first run (5 days post marathon) and it went as well as I expected- tight calves and overall tired body but nothing hurt. I needed this run to loosen my calves for Saturday- race day!
My older two kids were also running this one. They both ran it last year and were anxious to see what they could do a year older. Kids pre-registration rate was only $10 for this race (mine was $20) which was nice. As usual, the kids went to bed wearing their race attire for a quick early morning wake-up. I was hoping to have everyone ready and in the car by 6 am.
We arrived in Batesville with about 45 minutes to spare which was perfect. I picked up our timing chips and race bags and found a restroom. I jogged a little over a mile and a half but was feeling pretty sluggish. I did not want to pick it up on my strides and I hoped it would come together during the race. I did not have a pace plan which is not at all how I like to race but I knew it was necessary for this one. My goal was just to see how I felt and stay with it as long as I could. If my calf muscle started to cramp up I was prepared to walk. I just needed to finish to be eligible for Iron Runner. It definitely helped having run this course before so I knew what to expect.
Mile 1- 5:47. This race has a pretty nice downhill which translates to a fast start. I knew this would be my fastest mile with miles 2 & 4 being the most challenging. I moved to first female around the half mile marker.
Mile 2- 6:21. Long uphill climb.I really struggled with my breathing during this mile. I think the uphill and heat were making me work for it. I tried to relax my breathing and looked forward to a slight downhill towards the end of this mile which helped.
Mile 3- 6:08. I pulled it back together a little on this mile thanks to the downhill but I knew the hardest part of the race was still to come.
Mile 4- 6:39. Everything fell apart this mile and I definitely turned to “survival mode” during the LONG uphill climb which last almost 3 quarters of a mile. The final stretch has a nice downhill and I tried to make up my time here but the damage was done. My fastest mile 4 on this course is a 6:28 which I ran in 2013 & 2015. One of these years I’m going to have a good last mile there!
Official Finish Time- 25:10/ 1st Female.
Official Results can be found here.
Once I finished I grabbed some water and then I headed back for the kids. My daughter came through at 33:10 and my son finished in 36:55. Both of them beat their times from last year by almost 2 minutes!
It wasn’t my fastest time in the course (13 seconds slower than my course PR) but for 6 days post marathon I felt pretty good about it. Next year I hope to go into strong and ready to tackle that last mile!
My race time history with the Batesville 4 Mile Classic:
After the race we went home so we could shower and clean up before heading out for a girls shopping day (me and both my girls). It was a fun outing and we’ll have to keep this tradition going. John took the boys to an Avengers movie. It was a win-win!
What’s Next:
As far as running and racing I’m taking it easy this week. I do have another Grand Prix race this coming weekend in Hope, AR- the Watermelon 5k. I haven’t run it before so we’ll see!