Notes
Ann Arbor Turkey Trot. Doing Thanksgiving with Kaylie's family this year so first time with this trot. The winning time 2 years ago was 16:51 so I thought I could run 16:30 and get an easy win. Therefore I wore the race cotton long sleeve and regular old flats on a morning with on/off rain. Noticed a lot of guys at the start line wearing carbon plated shoes and a lot of those guys went out the first 300 meters but then after that it settled into 3 of us. There is 150 feet of elevation gain on this course and majority of the 1st mile is uphill. We hit the first mile in 5:14 but after that I stopped looking at splits. I realized I was in for a real race. On top of that, the first mile was a shock to my system. The two guys got on a step on me in the flatter 2nd mile because I was hurting but I was able to come back on them up a small hill. One guy made move on the downhill that I covered then I made a move uphill with 400 to go. Got a gap on the two guys but the one guy came back on me with 150 to go. Last 100 was all out. I held him off in a lean for the win. For doing only easy runs+strides on a hilly course and not taking this super seriously, I was very happy with 15:39. This is probably a 15:15-15:20 on a flat course. I won a lot with this (drawstring bag, mug, candy, free entry to next year and a free pair of shoes). Would never have a prayer of winning Naperville Turkey Trot so it was nice to win a real turkey trot. But it took WAY more effort than I expected. But a win is a win!