Double D invitational mile

 I couldn’t find any races of interest for the weekend so I decided it was time to go back to the Andover downhill mile and give it another shot.  Last year (May 19) Doug D and I did a workout here that included an all-out mile.  Doug cracked 5 with a 4:55 and I was close to dipping under with a 5:01.  I figured since I’m getting ready for the Masters Road Mile I better do some quicker stuff.  Doing the same mile as last year would give me an indication of where my fitness is.  The mile probably runs 20-30 seconds faster than a flat mile.  I’d run 5:32 on the track last week so I was looking to be right around the 5 minute mark again.  I was surprised that when I threw it out on Strava to all of my “double d” friends that Diana Davis took me up on the offer and would join me on Saturday.  She was a good sport, willing to do my workout.  We did a 3 mile warm-up going up the course, then did 2 x 440 with 440 rest.  That got us back to the bottom for a quick change and then a trot back up the 215’ to the start of the mile.  I gave Diana a 15 second head start so we’d each get to chase the other for part of the mile.  I hit the ¼ in 77 and passed Diana around the 660 mark as I was running the fastest ¼ of the run with a 71.9.  The final ½ mile is still downhill but not as much.  I had splits of 77.8 and 76.6 to cross the line in 5:03.3.  Diana ran a strong 5:42.  I can’t complain, although I kind of hoped to break 5.  It is still a good sign that I’m only 2 seconds slower than last year.  I still have four weeks until the mile so hopefully I can get a little faster!