Turkey Trot 5K 2016 – Race Recap

I wasn’t planning on running the Turkey Trot, but after the steroid shot in my hip left it feeling pretty good these last couple of weeks, I figured why not. I can’t make the labral tear any worse, so I might as well jump in a race since I love racing so much.

I didn’t have too many expectations going into the race since I haven’t been running for the past 5 months. Okay, so that’s a little bit of a lie because I always have expectations for myself–that’s the overachiever and perfectionist in me. I knew I couldn’t run anywhere near my PR pace of 5:58 minutes/mile, and I pretty much thought that if I could maintain a 7 minute pace I would be doing good. However, then I remembered last year’s race where the roads were incredibly icy. I wasn’t able to run very fast at all, so I looked up my time from last year–> 20:47, which is a pace of 6:42. I immediately thought, “I wonder if I could beat my time from last year.” I told everyone I was going to run a 7 minute pace, but secretly I was hoping to run around a 6:40 pace and set a course PR.

It was very cold the morning of the race–11 degrees F, and it maybe warmed up to 14 degrees by the start. I had my down jacket on during my warmups, and I did not want to give it up before the start. This is not anywhere near my ideal racing temperature, but thankfully it was only a 5K.

As Craig drove me to the start of the race, I realized I forgot my GPS watch. Grr!! But then I figured that was probably better that way so I wouldn’t get so obsessed with my pace and splits the entire time. Plus, this was supposed to be for fun since I was injured, right? (Not really possible for a die-hard runner.)

The race itself was pretty anticlimactic. Thankfully I’ve raced enough I know how to pace myself pretty well from the start of the race. It felt like I maintained a pretty even pace, and I tried to pick off as many girls as possible. The last quarter mile is when my labored breathing kicked in, and I knew I had pushed as hard as I could. There were three girls not far in front of me that I should have been able to get, but 6th place is still okay given the circumstances these past 5 months.

Craig and Cullen were there to watch me run, well, more like see me finish since it was so cold out. I love that Cullen is starting to understand that Mom goes for a run a lot of mornings and he wants to watch me race.

I have no idea how long this steroid shot will last, but I will enjoy running pain-free while I can!