The Long and Short of a 5K Turkey Trot

I spent the better part of Wednesday thinking about Fred Duling and the incredible power of the human spirit. Of course, all this thinking was done as I ran errands, cared for children, hung out with my awesome 88-year old mother-in-law, did my meager share of Thanksgiving preparations, and stressed about strategized for my 5K Turkey Trot...among other things.

The 5K was in the forefront of my mind. The plan was to head up to Sonoma for what I'll call the 6th Annual Bartholomew Park Winery Thanksgiving Day 5K FunRun Turkey Trot because I don't know the official name or if it even has one!

Gee, XL, why on Earth would you drive an hour each way to run in an eentsy weentsy race with no swag whatsoever or even prizes?

This is why...

AM and me this Thursday...

I'm the nearly naked one...you can tell by the hair.

I found AM and her blog, Goals for the Week (now called Feet in Motion) last year when I started running and blogging. The 5th Annual version of this race was my first race, and AM was my first blogger meet-up :) Last year I finished the 5K in 28:52 and was all fired up because I had been expecting a time between 30 and 31 minutes. It was so fun, the people were super nice, and it was a beautiful setting. I vowed to return in 2011.

skip to the bottom if you want the short version...it's in blue italics all the way at the end

While temperatures were sub-freezing last year, this year the forecast called for pouring down rain *GROAN* My thoughts flashed on Fred Duling, I shut up and packed a Hefty bag, and set to creating a race plan. I had already planned on shooting the moon...'A' goal set at 23:52 (exactly 5 minutes faster than last year) and 'B' goal at 24 flat. My plan was to start slow (7:55 pace for the first half-mile) and bump the speed up every half-mile to be finishing off at 7:30 pace.

Enter stage left:  optimistic and persuasive friend

Uttering phrases like "go for it" and "what have you got to lose?" via chat, he convinced me to push the envelope. Go out at 7:30 pace and see how long I could hang on before imploding or exploding. "It's just a 5K" meaning I'd still be able to finish even if I blew myself out in the first mile.

Here's what happened...

I awoke way too early for my liking and was out the door by 7. It felt weird to be going off to a 5K race instead of a 2+ hour run. The rain was so light it was more of a heavy mist, and by the time I got to the venue, even the misting was intermittent. With temps hovering around 50ºF, conditions were my idea of perfection.

As I trotted around this beautiful place during my warm up, I remembered how last year I didn't warm up... I had been worried about completing just the 3.1 miles of the race! Once I felt loose, I hit the bathroom and stripped down to shorts and a tank. I set my Garmin to show just lap pace/time/distance, programmed the auto lap distance as one half mile, and put The Cure's Just Like Heaven on continuous loop on my iPod. I was ready.

The start felt awesome! Downhill + Adrenaline = 3:46.40 (7:33 pace) for the first half-mile no problem!

The road flattened out and I pushed a bit harder... 3:44.81 (7:30 pace) for the second half-mile.

Then there was a hill.

It was not a big hill, but it was a hill nonetheless. As I worked diligently to keep it fast, the numbers just kept creeping up. And then this guy pushing a stroller passed me. Going uphill. While having a conversation with the person next to him. The ensuing momentary demoralization allowed the pace to climb over 8 minutes per mile, and I finished the third half-mile in 4:00.37 (8:01 as my average pace).

Don't get distracted! Don't let the numbers get to you! Pay attention to the task at hand!

And I thought about Fred Duling and his daughter giving it their all in Philly. And I thought dream big. I rounded the next corner and floored it down the hill and back along the flat straightaway... fourth half-mile run in 3:42.61 (7:25 pace).

For the next half-mile, "keep it in the 30's" quickly segued into "stay in the 40's" which turned into "stay sub-8" and ultimately became "just keep moving forward." And there was this kid. He had flown off the start line with his dad, and I was now running next to them. The kid and I pulled away from the dad and ran together for the last mile. Our fifth half-mile was 3:59.45 (8 min mile pace).

As the kid and I began the final ascent, we were both fading but refusing to concede. He definitely had more gas in his tank, though. He would surge ahead and then walk until I pulled even and then surge again. Had I not been maxxing myself, this would probably have been super annoying. I kept trying to keep up with his surges. In my mind I was, but reality was not cooperating.

He finished about 10 feet ahead of me. I crossed the line in 24:01.

I was strollered. I was kidded (what do you call it when you're passed by a child?). I just missed my goal. I crashed and I burned.

And I had FUN. While I felt like I was dying at the end, rarely have I felt more alive. And for me, there is no better way to start a day of giving thanks than reveling in and testing the limits of this glorious thing that is Life.

********************

and the short version....


I ran a 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Weather was cool and misty. Splits were as follows:


0.5 mile:  3:46.40  
1.0 mile:  3:44.81   
1.5 mile:  4:00.37
2.0 mile:  3:42.61
2.5 mile:  3:59.45
3.0 mile:  4:15.20
3.07 mile:  0:32.48


Finish time = 24:01


Yay!