Road miles were once the rage. All over the world, there were mile races held on some of the best stretches of road in the world. But most of those races have come and gone. Sure, there are a handful of road miles left and still one of the most prominent is the Congress Avenue Mile which will be held this Sunday, June 7th.
Once part of the elite mile circuit, Congress Avenue is still an elite mile—but for high school runners. The best runners from around the state will be in Austin for the UIL State Meet at UT this weekend and many of the cream of the crop will also gear up for Congress Avenue on Sunday.
But Congress Avenue has never just been for the top guns. There has always been a peoples’ race and lots of divisions for the recreational racer who wants to test his or her speed on the lightning-quick Congress Avenue course.
Over the past couple of years, the course has changed due to unavoidable conflicts. This year the course has changed yet again, but, unlike last year, when the course was atypically slow, the ’09 course should be a scorcher. It may even be the fastest course in the race’s long history.
The course will now start on 11th Street, just west of Colorado, on a steep downhill to Congress. From there, the course cascades down Congress all the way to the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge where it flattens out for the final few hundred meters before the finish.
If you have a mile PR in your legs, this is the course to do it on. Even if you don’t have a PR anymore, it’s definitely the course you can capitalize on to run fast on and earn bragging rights.
Even though aggressive running is certainly called for (you may even set PRs on your 400-meter splits spinning down Congress), you must exercise some degree of patience because when you hit the flat, final stretch on the Congress Bridge, those last 300 meters can feel like an eternity if you have nothing left.
First race gets underway Sunday morning at 8 a.m. with the masters women, followed by the masters men 10 minutes later. After that, there are a variety of heats every 10 minutes with the elite women going off at 10:15, followed 10 minutes by the elite men.
The highlight of the morning are the Texas State High School Mile Championships: The girls take off at 10:35 with the boys 10 minutes later.
Packet pick up and registration will take place Friday and Saturday at RunTex (422 W. Riverside) during regular store hours. There is also raceday registration and packet pick up near the starting line on 11th Street.
