PR at the Turkey Trot

Thursday morning dawned cold, but sunny. I had a rough night with Shoo, so I got up a bit late. I ate a bit of breakfast and played musical cars (we live on the route and I wanted them off the street) and then headed over to the race. I continued my pursuit of my 1000 mile goal by running the .4 miles to the start. When I got to the start, I ran into a ton of neighbors and friends. About 1500 people were doing the race and I felt like I knew at least a quarter of them. LOL Most of the people I knew weren’t planning to race the Turkey Trot, just finish it, so I moved by myself to the start.

The turkey gobbled and we headed off – straight up a steep hill. Luckily it wasn’t too long, so it was just a nice warm-up. The first mile was only mild hills, so I really pushed myself, knowing that the last mile had a couple of really bad ones. I finished the first mile in about 8:15. Mile two starts with a long moderate incline, but then completely flattens out. At the mile and three quarter point, I rounded the corner and saw my favorite fans. Beer Geek and the boys were out on our front lawn, cheering me on. Beer Geek managed to take my picture and then take a short video.
That’s me in the lighter blue, waving. Beer Geek is even more careful about internet privacy than I am, so he wiped out all the bib info on everyone’s bibs. He’s a good man!

I’m the one in the lighter blue and black combo that does the passing. :o)

I didn’t stop to hug my kids as I rounded the corner. I had warned them that if I was on pace for a PR, I would just wave. I pushed hard (although, I look darn slow in that video!) and finished the second mile at about an 8:20 pace. The next mile was HARD. I’m not fast and I was pushing myself hard. I felt like I was near maximum heart rate for much of the race. There is a huge hill at about the 2.5 point and that took a lot out of me. We then rounded the last turnaround and had to go back up the other side of the hill. Ouch! Thankfully, the last quarter mile is all downhill and I knew that, so I started my kick for the finish with a quarter to go. I really pushed hard at the very end because I was running neck and neck with two young guys and no way was I letting them beat me LOL.

Finish time: 26:01
Place: 225/1130 finishers

I think I may be in the top 10 for my age group (30-39), but official category results have not been posted yet. While I wish I’d managed two seconds faster, I am happy with my time and it gives me a (potentially) manageable goal for next year. I think if I’d been faster, I’d be trying to break 25 next year and that might just kill me. :o) Even cooler, while I didn’t place in the top 3 for my age group, I did win some bling in the random giveaways after the race. I got a really neat necklace (mine is turquoise) donated by Voices for Global Change.

Now I need to move on to my final goal for 2008 – 1000 miles. I have 89.3 miles to go and it’s going to be close.