Race Report: Cooper Young 4 Miler

I signed up for the Cooper Young 4 miler last Friday on a whim after seeing a post about it on the Black Girls Run! Memphis Facebook page. At the time I was following my old training plan and it fit in perfectly as I needed to run 4 miles that day anyway. The race also happened to be in walking distance from my house. Perfect. And since I'd never run a 4 mile race before it'd be an automatic PR (personal record).

I was a little nervous about the race because of the length. I'm not a very fast runner which is part of the reason the half marathon distance appeals to me. It's very hard for me to keep a really fast pace for a long time but I can definitely keep a moderate pace for a long period of time and feel good. I had no idea how to run this race but set a modest goal of finishing under 40 minutes. A 10:00 pace is pretty standard for me so I knew that it was a goal I could reach and hopefully surpass.

My boyfriend dropped me off at the start and I picked up my bib, t-shirt and swag bag. There were 3 waves and I got in the last wave simply because...actually, I don't know why I did, but I did. Before the race started I decided I would try to hit at least 10:00 for my first mile and then get faster each mile based on how I felt. The temps were cool and the race was at night (my first race at night actually). The race route was flat and would have been kind of boring but there were a lot of people cheering with signs throughout the race. Since the race was mostly through a residential area, a number of people were sitting on their front with beers and drinks kickin' it. Although the race was short, their support was great to have.

I was hoping to find someone during the race to pace myself with but never really found someone. The first two miles felt pretty great and easy so I continued to speed up. When I finished the race, I felt good and still had more in the tank. SInce this was my first four miler (race, not run), I feel food about it and am glad to have a benchmark for future races.

My splits were as follows:

Mile 1: 10:01

Mile 2: 9:56

Mile 3: 9:18

Mile 4: 8:25

Average Pace - 9:25

Race Time - 37:48

#80 out of 239 in my age group.

I actually thought I was running faster during Mile 2 but turned out I kept the same pace. The first couple miles for me can be difficult because it normally takes me about 2 miles to warm up and I didn't do any warmup before the race other than some basic stretching.

I'd definitely suggest the race to other people. It was $25 and I liked the crowd. There were young people, old people, people running with jogging strollers - an overall nice mix. Some people ran, some jogged - no pressure. I had a great time and look forward to doing it again next year

- Nash