Turkey Trot 5 miler (11/29/08) race report (my second race of the weekend) (Read 393 times)

At some point in time running 2 races in 3 days seemed like a good idea, but this morning I realized that it was actually a very stupid idea. I woke up and had plenty of time to kill since today's race didn't start until 10 AM. So I ate breakfast and drove over to the start and picked up my number as well as my mom and dad's numbers. Then I drove back home. I live all of 1/2 mile from the start. Then I sat around until 30 minutes before the race started when my folks finally got to my house. The three of us headed over to the start together. The start area was pretty crazy, they had a 5k, a 5 miler and a 1 mile fun run all starting at the same time. They announced all the courses, which in itself was nutty. The 5k was 2 laps in the park, the 1 miler was an out and back on the street outside the park and the 5 miler was 1 lap in the street an out and back in one direction outside the park, the 1 mile course and then a second lap in the park. I heard that there were over 500 runners in all 3 events, but I don't know if that is true. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes we were off. The park "roads" were really just packed dirt roads with a few tree roots sticking out. I was glad that I started near the front because I was feeling good and although it was cold, I wasn't frozen. After 1/2 mile I looked at my Garmin and saw that I was running around a 7:30 pace. I didn't know how long I could keep it up, but I figured I'd stay with it until I was on the real road outside the park if I could. Suddenly I was done with the first mile, which had a clock marking it. That was a nice touch, but as it turns out it was the only clock on the course until the finish. Then all of a sudden, I was leaving the park. The first out and back was fast and then I was doing the out and back that matched the 1 miler course. There were still tons of 1 miler walkers out there (it was less than 15 minutes since the start, so I guess that I should have expected that, but I didn't and it surprised me). I slowed down a touch as I did the second out and back, but I still wanted to stay around an 8 minute pace because I really wanted to run the race in 42 minutes. As I headed back into the park and onto the dirt road I began passing 5k walkers. There were a lot of them and most of them had no idea that the 5 milers that were running past them had not just lapped them, but also run a few extra miles. With 1 mile left I started feeling not so hot, I knew that I was running fast for me, but I was hoping to make it to finish in 42. My brain had taken leave of my body though and so I didn't realize that I was on pace for a new PR. Suddenly, Britney took over my IPod and Womanizer rocked me in. As I ran into the shoot I realized that I had finished faster than I had even hoped and set a new PR of 39:14. Whoo hoo! After what seemed like days, but was really only about 30 minutes they began the awards. I took 2nd in my age group and finished 27th of the 83 runners in the 5 miler. My mom took 2nd in her age group and my dad took 1st (go mom & dad!). The race itself was nice, but there were a few organizational kinks in it - like putting the 5 miler finishing shoot right next to the refreshments - there were many more 5k runners and some of them ended up in the shoot, which was annoying. The 5k shoot was on the other side of the road - they should have flipped them. Also, a map of the course rather than random instructions would have been nice. But it was a nice day for a good race that was not on the boardwalk (a rarity in these parts it seems) and I'll probably run it again.

Great race Jill . . . and how great that you all placed! Congrats!

Congrats to you and your parents Jill. I enjoyed your report.