Ran the Haddon Township Turkey Trot this morning, one of my favorite races of the year because it's in the town where I teach and I usually know about half the race field. The fact that it finishes at a bar helps too...
Here are some recaps from previous years:
2012
2013
2014
My dad runs it, several of my students run it, people from Who's Up? run it... always lots of friendly faces and always a good time.
It's a great race for a PR because it's at the end of the fall running season, the course is completely flat, and the weather is usually always perfect.
Here we are this morning at the start:
I wasn't even sure if I was going to race this morning or not as I'm still recovering from last Sunday's marathon. All week I've felt slight pain in my left shin, right knee and just overall fatigue, so I decided to leave the decision until this morning. When I woke up feeling ok, I decided to race but to take it easy.
I tried not to worry about the pace of those around me and just run my own race, telling myself I would be ok if I came in over 20 minutes (usually my gauge for race performance in a 5k), so I was surprised to pass the first mile marker in 6:14. Nothing was bothering me so I just tried to keep up the pace. I was pushing it but not to the brink of exhaustion like in some 5k's.
I passed one of my eighth grade students. I passed two guys in Who's Up?. I entered the final stretch and took out a few more runners. I don't care if I just ran a 3:01 marathon six days ago, I just can't kill that competitive drive I get in shorter distances.
Final stats:
19:39
24th overall (out of 742 finishers)
4th in age group (30-34)
We hadn't entered Who's Up? as a team (I don't even know if they had a team competition in this race) which is a shame because we would have cleaned up. Huge congrats to Robin who won the overall women's race, and a slew of others who won age group awards.
The race conveniently finishes at The Pour House and offers a large complimentary breakfast (beers unfortunately not included) so we camped out upstairs for a few hours after the race.
Nothing like drinking beer at 10 in the morning (and then sitting on the bar to pose for a picture) to celebrate the holiday season.
My dad and I also got our traditional picture under the Pour House sign:
Also, check out Liz's recap of the race here. She took third in her age group and won a sweet mason jar. I also stole one of her photos that her dad took.
Here's to a great year of running and a great season of racing, to great running friends and to long-winded race recaps.
Here are some recaps from previous years:
2012
2013
2014
My dad runs it, several of my students run it, people from Who's Up? run it... always lots of friendly faces and always a good time.
It's a great race for a PR because it's at the end of the fall running season, the course is completely flat, and the weather is usually always perfect.
Here we are this morning at the start:
I wasn't even sure if I was going to race this morning or not as I'm still recovering from last Sunday's marathon. All week I've felt slight pain in my left shin, right knee and just overall fatigue, so I decided to leave the decision until this morning. When I woke up feeling ok, I decided to race but to take it easy.
 |
| Moments before the start Photo by Don Licorish |
I tried not to worry about the pace of those around me and just run my own race, telling myself I would be ok if I came in over 20 minutes (usually my gauge for race performance in a 5k), so I was surprised to pass the first mile marker in 6:14. Nothing was bothering me so I just tried to keep up the pace. I was pushing it but not to the brink of exhaustion like in some 5k's.
I passed one of my eighth grade students. I passed two guys in Who's Up?. I entered the final stretch and took out a few more runners. I don't care if I just ran a 3:01 marathon six days ago, I just can't kill that competitive drive I get in shorter distances.
Final stats:
19:39
24th overall (out of 742 finishers)
4th in age group (30-34)
We hadn't entered Who's Up? as a team (I don't even know if they had a team competition in this race) which is a shame because we would have cleaned up. Huge congrats to Robin who won the overall women's race, and a slew of others who won age group awards.
The race conveniently finishes at The Pour House and offers a large complimentary breakfast (beers unfortunately not included) so we camped out upstairs for a few hours after the race.
Nothing like drinking beer at 10 in the morning (and then sitting on the bar to pose for a picture) to celebrate the holiday season.
My dad and I also got our traditional picture under the Pour House sign:
Also, check out Liz's recap of the race here. She took third in her age group and won a sweet mason jar. I also stole one of her photos that her dad took.
Here's to a great year of running and a great season of racing, to great running friends and to long-winded race recaps.
You looked so relaxed at that first mile split! I'm seriously impressed you were able to pull off such a great 5K so close to your marathon PR. I'm excited to see you crush the 5K distance this year!
ReplyDeleteLooks like someone photo-bombed the Who's Up starting line picture. Who's that short old guy in the blue hat between the two women?
ReplyDelete