The DeLorme Family: Bristol Mile

   On June 28th I ran a mile race called the Bristol Mile. It was the first year for this race. The race was planned for last year, but because of the Waldo Canyon Fire, it was cancelled. I was excited to get a chance to run it this year. I have never run a one mile race before and I was looking forward to trying a new distance. The race was also unique in that it was held at 6:00 at night. Most races around here in the summer are held first thing in the morning. It was also different in that it had different heats that were determined by age and gender. They even had two elite heats. The cool part was because of the heats, you actually got to see a lot of people cross the finish line. I never get to see my brother come across the finish line because he is so much faster than me. For this race, his heat was after mine.
     Overall, I had a good experience. Being that it was the inaugural year the race definitely had some major hiccups. The website posted different start times for the heat then the piece of paper they gave you when you picked up your race packet. We thought our heat didn't start until 6:30, but when we got to the start line it said it was actually 6:15. Luckily, we got there early enough. There were some other minor issues with the starting line, but it was soon our time to go. The coolest part was that because of the way the course was laid out, you could literally see the finish line from the start line. I had no real expectations for this race since I have never run such short distances. I was hoping for anything under 7:00 minutes. When they said go, I just ran as hard as I could. I didn't even look at my watch once because I knew my pace didn't matter because I was giving it my all. Just when it become super painful, the race was over. I loved being able to see the finish line the whole time and just focused on getting there. I saw that clock read 6:11 when I crossed the finish line. That was way better than I thought I would do!!! I was pleased with my time. My sister ran in in 6:29 which I was so impressed with!
   After my sister and I ran, we waited to watch my brother's heat. It was neat to see him cross the finish line. The elite waves were really neat. There was a Sundanese male in the elite group. The fastest mile ever run in Colorado was 4:00. This guy was a beast and came in at 3:54! That was an amazing thing to witness. The crowd went crazy.
   After the race, they had an after party at the Bristol Brewing company. Yet another hiccup, but they advertised that awards would be at 7:45. Well, we hung around until after 8:00 and still no awards. We ended up leaving. I guess they had computer problems.
    I ended up getting 3rd in my age group. The top two females in the race were in my age group. For trophies, they gave out beer growlers with a coupon to get it filled with beer. It is definitely one of the more unique trophies I have won.
   I would definitely do this race again. I just hope it becomes more organized as the years go on. I also fell in love with the mile distance and would honestly make that my new race distance if there were more mile races to pick from. Maybe I will find a few.