Mile races for grown-ups: do these exist???

Yep, road miles do exist. A few of them around here (Illinois) even have cash prizes. You could also run master's track races. I'm sure California has some. Maybe start by checking the USATF website for your state?

oh audrey wrote:

I don't want to be the random fat old man running the 1500m in 4:20.

I want to race against my peers.

Does this scene exist anywhere in the country?

No.

Just run one by yourself in private and then tell everyone your time. Everyone will believe you.

What part of california are you in? I'm near SF and there are a few road miles this way.

Also, why dont you want to be the random fat guy running a 4:20 1500m at a college meet? If you enter the right race, you'll actually be in the pack. The key is the enter the right race. Near SF, there is the SF state distance festival, which has a heat for any speed, chabot has a few meets with slow kids, the pride meet definitely has slow people, etc. If you're in socal, I'm sure there are equivalent meets. Look at some nearby Juco's schedules to find some meets that might allow you in.

continuing track as an adult is like continuing playing trombone in the marching band.

oh audrey wrote:

Does this scene exist anywhere in the country--where people actually train for competitive road or track miles?

Sort of, the thing is that once you graduate college you need to drink a beer between each lap if you want to find competitive miles.

Nick Willis' site has a nice list:

http://www.milermethod.com/races

I believe there's quite a few more- he just ran a new one in Cleveland a few weeks ago

https://www.gohrun.org/themile/

And here's one in West Chester, Pa, though it doesn't held a west coaster it adds to the overall list-

https://runsignup.com/Race/PA/WestChester/TheWestChesterMile

Dude there are a bunch of them in the Bay Area. Are you talking road or track?

A masters runner in Strawberry Canyon TC just finished 3rd at masters worlds in Europe. Maybe ask them where they race?

There's a road mile here:

http://devilmtnrun.com/mile-of-truth/

There used to be a road mile at the San Rafael Sunset Crit (not sure if it's coming back).

There's a road mile here:

http://onemilebang.org

For T&F just go to the pausatf website. They have a bunch of open, all comers, and masters meets listed. For instance:

https://www.pausatf.org/officials/officials-calendars/

oh audrey wrote:

like Tegenkamp, I don't run no 10k.

Best part of the post ^^ Plenty of races out there and fast Masters to keep you honest.

By the way, most tracks in the world are at high schools and colleges. Very few meets are going to get organized if they're not at one of them.

Plenty of old people compete in those meets. Don't be a baby.

The Downtown Mile on the 4th of July in Flagstaff is a great event that Pat Casey won this last summer.

They have summer races and winter races, or at least they did when I was still living in the arean20 years ago.

Southern California has several that I can't remember, but I know Manhattan Beach has a road mile and there's also one held in conjunction with the Ventura marathon. It's fairly common for big and medium city marathons to have a 'festival of races' type thing, often including a road mile. Check the results to see if it's for adults or just a kid's fun run.

Thanks everyone!

After perusing all your links, it looks like the best road miles for me would be the Los Gatos race (deep field of sub-5 milers, including old guys--including a 51 yr old who ran 4:24--wow) the Danville race, and the Santa Barbara state street mile.

These are appealing because they have age groups where you can race your peers.

As for the track, I must say it would be depressing to be the creepy old guy running with the slowest heat of the college kids. Yes, I could run a "fast" time and achieve the personal satisfaction of doing my best, but still. I know I would finish that feeling, "what the hell am I doing here?"

Now if there was a track series like the equivalent of the PAUSATF XC, where you could consistently race a mile against fellow over-30yo folks, that would be great.

There are all-comers track meets all over, mostly in the summer.

I went to a few this past summer. There were 60 year old guys running 7 minute miles in the same race as some recently graduated college guys. Everybody cheered for everyone else. Lots of fun.

oh audrey wrote:

As for the track, I must say it would be depressing to be the creepy old guy running with the slowest heat of the college kids. Yes, I could run a "fast" time and achieve the personal satisfaction of doing my best, but still. I know I would finish that feeling, "what the hell am I doing here?"

I

The Los Gatos All comers track series are not college races. There were actually few college-age runners participating from what I remember back 20 years ago. You would definitely feel welcome there. It's run by the (former?) high school coach there, and it was always a mix of many different types of runners in the community, from high school (and maybe younger?) to local elites, to local hobby joggers/runners with a wide range of ability.

I ran my first track race ever at a Los Gatos all-comers meet in the winter of 1986 when I was a high school junior, but had not yet run a high school race for my school, having started running late. I ran around 5:0x for that mile, and probably wasn't anywhere near last. Later in my mid-20s, I ran a several races there of the years for fun, never seriously training. I remember running a 1500, getting passed by PattiSue Plummer in the last 100. I remember my brother, then mid-20s who had not run in a race since a high school freshman, joining me for the first 4 laps of a 2 mile just to see what he could run a mile in under 5:00 on no training (nope, ~5:06) because we got to the meet too late for the mile.

Ca$hclay wrote:

oh audrey wrote:

like Tegenkamp, I don't run no 10k.

Best part of the post ^^ Plenty of races out there and fast Masters to keep you honest.

What's funny is that Tegenkamp ran the 10000m in the 2012 olympics.

zzzz wrote:

http://losgatosallcomerstrack.com/LGAAPresentsAllComerTrackMeets/Welcome.html

They have summer races and winter races, or at least they did when I was still living in the arean20 years ago.

Still do.

up and comer wrote:

There are all-comers track meets all over, mostly in the summer.

I went to a few this past summer. There were 60 year old guys running 7 minute miles in the same race as some recently graduated college guys. Everybody cheered for everyone else. Lots of fun.

We used to have summer all-comers track meets here in Cincinnati, but they ended a few years back after low turn out and Jack Rabbit buying the store that organized them. Now the only mile races we have are downhill miles, which are actually fun and competitive. No more options to race anything less than a mile, so now I just ask friends to race or time trial and then we do a workout or easy run afterwards.