Turkey Trot 2017 race report.
My 14th annual Turkey Trot!
For the second time, I was doing the Turkey Trot 5 days after running a 50k trail run. Last time I don't think I even attempted to run until the Turkey Trot. This time I had a failed attempt to run the day after the 50k, two days after that where I knew my quads were too sore to run, and then a very, very, very slow and uncomfortable 7 mile run to work on Wednesday. That proved that I COULD run, but it was going to be a very slow trot indeed, if my legs were still that trashed.
Fortunately my legs felt a million times better on Thursday than they had on Wednesday!
Matt and I did a little warm up run over to the start line together, then killed half an hour chatting with Kerri. Once we started running, we all lost each other in the crowds, and I settled down to run whatever my body was willing to run.
It was actually blissfully cool for the first time in years, which meant my costume wasn't as dreadful as it usually has been the last few years. The first mile is uphill, but also fully shaded, so I just dodged and weaved and survived through the first mile. My right quad had no complaints about the first, uphill mile.
In the first 5 minutes, I overheard the two girls running next to me chatting. One said, "I love the Turkey Trot because it can be whatever you want it to be. If you want to race it, you can. If you want to just go out and enjoy yourself, you can. If you want to sing Kumbaya for 5 miles, you can."
And then I had Kumbaya stuck in my head for the next 4.5 miles. Ugh.
The hills on Enfield were a little tougher, since I could feel my quads on those downhills, and then the sun was fully out for those uphills. There was a lot of breathing, but I still felt pretty good and was enjoying myself.
After the turn onto the frontage road, there's some more uphills that felt fine, then some more downhills which were definitely noticeable. But I was just having a lovely time. Even though it was sunny and warmer than I would have preferred, it was so nice to run again after having to take several days off, and the Turkey Trot is one of my favorite events, and .. it was just good.
Just before mile 4, Kerri pulled up beside me and asked me how I was feeling. I said the downhills weren't great for my quads, but I was having a lovely time. She thanked me for being her carrot so far in this run, even though I hadn't known I was. Crap. That meant someone was depending on me not to slow down. And I hate that last bit down Cesar Chavez. So I put my head down and made sure I didn't slow down or fall apart for the last mile, in case Kerri needed me to pull her through it.
As we turned onto the bridge, Evil was playing Born to Be Wild on the loudspeaker, and that FINALLY chased out Kumbaya. Ugh. I pushed as much as I could, my legs feeling tired but great, and crossed the finish line of my 14th consecutive Turkey Trot!
The results are mixed. On the one hand, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to run, or would feel okay running, so the fact that I felt so good during the race was great. On the other hand, it's my slowest Turkey Trot since 2006! Even slower than the last time I ran a 50k the Saturday before. But on the other other hand, my progression of mile paces for the run was 9:25, 9:20, 9:07, 8:49, 8:15. I haven't done an 8:15 in ages, and wouldn't have bet I could run any sub-9s on those legs that the day before were hard pressed to average 10:30s.
I haven't been doing any speedwork during my Rocky 100 training, just miles. Lots of miles. And it felt really good to push a little bit out there. I'll go back to miles and miles and miles now, and revisit speedwork in a few months, but it was nice to get a little taste.
Results: 45:18 (9:04/mile)
History!
2004: 52:24 (10:29/mile)
2005: 52:45 (10:33/mile)
2006: 47:54 (9:35/mile)
2007: 44:35 (8:55/mile)
2008: 39:48 (7:58/mile) (suspect it was short)
2009: 40:59 (8:10/mile)
2010: 36:35 (8:05/mile according to official time) (definitely short)
2011: 40:29 (8:06/mile)
2012: 38:58 (7:48/mile)
2013: 39:45 (7:57/mile)
2014: 43:51 (8:46/mile)
2015: 42:41 (8:32/mile)
2016: 44:19 (8:52/mile)
For the second time, I was doing the Turkey Trot 5 days after running a 50k trail run. Last time I don't think I even attempted to run until the Turkey Trot. This time I had a failed attempt to run the day after the 50k, two days after that where I knew my quads were too sore to run, and then a very, very, very slow and uncomfortable 7 mile run to work on Wednesday. That proved that I COULD run, but it was going to be a very slow trot indeed, if my legs were still that trashed.
Fortunately my legs felt a million times better on Thursday than they had on Wednesday!
Matt and I did a little warm up run over to the start line together, then killed half an hour chatting with Kerri. Once we started running, we all lost each other in the crowds, and I settled down to run whatever my body was willing to run.
It was actually blissfully cool for the first time in years, which meant my costume wasn't as dreadful as it usually has been the last few years. The first mile is uphill, but also fully shaded, so I just dodged and weaved and survived through the first mile. My right quad had no complaints about the first, uphill mile.
In the first 5 minutes, I overheard the two girls running next to me chatting. One said, "I love the Turkey Trot because it can be whatever you want it to be. If you want to race it, you can. If you want to just go out and enjoy yourself, you can. If you want to sing Kumbaya for 5 miles, you can."
And then I had Kumbaya stuck in my head for the next 4.5 miles. Ugh.
The hills on Enfield were a little tougher, since I could feel my quads on those downhills, and then the sun was fully out for those uphills. There was a lot of breathing, but I still felt pretty good and was enjoying myself.
After the turn onto the frontage road, there's some more uphills that felt fine, then some more downhills which were definitely noticeable. But I was just having a lovely time. Even though it was sunny and warmer than I would have preferred, it was so nice to run again after having to take several days off, and the Turkey Trot is one of my favorite events, and .. it was just good.
Just before mile 4, Kerri pulled up beside me and asked me how I was feeling. I said the downhills weren't great for my quads, but I was having a lovely time. She thanked me for being her carrot so far in this run, even though I hadn't known I was. Crap. That meant someone was depending on me not to slow down. And I hate that last bit down Cesar Chavez. So I put my head down and made sure I didn't slow down or fall apart for the last mile, in case Kerri needed me to pull her through it.
As we turned onto the bridge, Evil was playing Born to Be Wild on the loudspeaker, and that FINALLY chased out Kumbaya. Ugh. I pushed as much as I could, my legs feeling tired but great, and crossed the finish line of my 14th consecutive Turkey Trot!
The results are mixed. On the one hand, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to run, or would feel okay running, so the fact that I felt so good during the race was great. On the other hand, it's my slowest Turkey Trot since 2006! Even slower than the last time I ran a 50k the Saturday before. But on the other other hand, my progression of mile paces for the run was 9:25, 9:20, 9:07, 8:49, 8:15. I haven't done an 8:15 in ages, and wouldn't have bet I could run any sub-9s on those legs that the day before were hard pressed to average 10:30s.
I haven't been doing any speedwork during my Rocky 100 training, just miles. Lots of miles. And it felt really good to push a little bit out there. I'll go back to miles and miles and miles now, and revisit speedwork in a few months, but it was nice to get a little taste.
Results: 45:18 (9:04/mile)
History!
2004: 52:24 (10:29/mile)
2005: 52:45 (10:33/mile)
2006: 47:54 (9:35/mile)
2007: 44:35 (8:55/mile)
2008: 39:48 (7:58/mile) (suspect it was short)
2009: 40:59 (8:10/mile)
2010: 36:35 (8:05/mile according to official time) (definitely short)
2011: 40:29 (8:06/mile)
2012: 38:58 (7:48/mile)
2013: 39:45 (7:57/mile)
2014: 43:51 (8:46/mile)
2015: 42:41 (8:32/mile)
2016: 44:19 (8:52/mile)