The Meteor Mile

My husband and I recently took part in the Meteor Mile. The Meteor Mile is a mile long race on the runway of Gloucestershire Airport. It is the third of three annual races organised by local running club, Almost Athletes, (the others being The Linda Franks Race and Bugatti 10k) and is part of our club’s race series.

My husband has wanted to do the Meteor Mile for years, after hearing about it from colleagues.

Neither of us really knew what to expect. Like most adult runners, we are distance runners. A short run for us is 5k. How on earth do we run a mile?! The last time I ran anything like a mile was the 1500m on school sports day, approximately 35 years ago. I came second out of six, but only because it’s the race that nobody wanted to do, so all the entrants were the slower people!

There were nearly 200 participants at the Meteor Mile, ranging from tiny children through to older adults, with everyone racing together. Most people belonged to running clubs, but there were a few unattached runners too. Some of the runners entered the race on the night, so huge respect to the Almost Athletes volunteers for processing them!

Being on an airport, there were probably more rules to follow around arrival time than with most races. There was plenty of parking on site. Runners had to pick their numbers up between 6:15 and 7pm for an 8pm run. Numbers were picked up in the small departure lounge, bypassing the security scanner. We also had access to probably the nicest pre-race toilets ever. Because airport toilets are always really nice, right?

At 7pm, we all passed through a side door in the terminal building onto the runway.

The airport closes to air traffic at 7pm (with the exception of emergency services – we saw a police helicopter after the race had finished).

I wasn’t sure what my tactic was for running a mile. Realistically, I was probably looking at ‘a third of a fast parkrun’ pace. Because it’s not a sprint, but it’s not a 5k and I don’t know how to run faster other than running a fast parkrun. I wanted to run sub-7 minutes. When I ran my parkrun PB of 21:18 at Marine Parade, every single one of my miles was sub-7. My husband wanted to run sub-6 minutes.

The race was along the runway back to the terminal building.

As the sun started to set, nearly 200 people walked a mile along the runway away from the terminal building to the start line. Quite a few of us jogged and used it as a warm-up. For people in their 50s not used to running that fast, it didn’t seem sensible to just run a mile flat-out without warming up. My husband and I also did a few of our drills from the speed endurance sessions at the running club.

We all had timing chips on our trainers. The race had a chip timed ending, but not a chip timed start. The start line was nice and wide, so my husband and I went quite near the front of the pack.

The course went in one direction for nearly a quarter of a mile, before taking a sharp turn onto the runway for the remainder of the race. My friend from the club joked that you didn’t want to get to that corner and already feel exhausted.

The race started and 200 people started running very fast. I got to that corner and I already felt exhausted. But I was pleased to see I’d run nearly a quarter of a mile in less than 1 minute 30.

Then it was onto the runway and a fast run back to the terminal building.

When you’re used to running a long way, it is remarkable how quick a mile goes. For me, even a 10k feels like it goes by in the blink of an eye, so a mile really does go by in the blink of an eye!

You would think an airport runway would be completely flat, but Gloucestershire Airport’s runway is surprisingly slightly undulating.

Little kids overtook me, men overtook me, I overtook men and women… Then it was a slight turn to the right to cross the finish line.

I finished in 6:36, which I was very happy with. I felt absolutely exhausted.

My husband was very happy with his 5:57.

The first male runner finished in 4:40 and the first female in 5:37.

There were prizes for the top 3 male and female senior athletes, the first boy and girl, and the first male and female Almost Athletes. There were no age categories, other than junior (under 15) or senior (everyone else!).

The Meteor Mile was a fantastic experience. The sun was setting and the space was so wide and open. It was like no run I’d ever done before. I’m already looking forward to doing it again next year!