TALES FROM THE TRAIL (AND SOMETIMES THE ROAD TOO)

Showing posts with label Dana Point Turkey Trot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dana Point Turkey Trot. Show all posts

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving! 2009 Dana Point Turkey Trot




We began our Thanksgiving celebration the day prior with a BBQ at the beach. I brought my scooter along, with a “maybe” that I’d join my boys. Well, a mom can’t bring her scooter and not scoot along. So on a day that I promised myself physical relaxation I rode my scooter for a couple hours with my three boys along the ocean side. That’s worth giving thanks.

To bed early, I slept restlessly, finally waking at 5:45 for a race that I openly loathe – The Dana Point Turkey Trot. Why do I loathe this race? For one, it bores me practically to death, for two, it is way too crowded, and three, it is so poorly organized, which I won’t go into detail, because it is after all Thanksgiving, and to complain isn’t very thankful.

So why did I run this race that I so desperately loathe? Easy. I can’t not run a 10k race in my own backyard. I just can’t, can’t, can’t.

So, I ran to the race for a warm-up, and squeezed into the crowd. As I crossed the start line, I hit the timer on my wristwatch, aiming to break an hour. The crowd was thick, difficult to plow through, as walkers generally did not line up toward the back. I figured I’d just make up time in the last half.

It was a beautiful day, blue skies, crisp, cool temperature – perfect running weather. There were runners dressed as elves and Santas. We were all knocking into each other that first couple miles, nothing too bad – but the road just thins too much through Doheny Beach, especially since it’s cut in half for the return trip. I reached the 5k mark in 30:29, which is not my best 5k time. Still, there was a chance, I thought to myself, I could break an hour, if I picked it up some. By the time I crossed over onto the island, I was just happy to be more than half way finished, and really didn’t care much anymore about breaking an hour.

At the five mile marker, I looked at my watch and thought to myself, “all I have to do is a ten minute mile to make it.” I didn’t push it too much, and I also didn’t account for the .22 of a mile remaining after mile six – which equals running faster than a ten minute mile!

All’s well that ends well, so they say – and it is true. I didn’t break an hour, coming in at 1 hour, 58 seconds (but I can say that I made it within an hour : ). Also! Today's time is my best 10k time to date – and I surely can’t complain about that.

Will I run this race next year?

Probably so.

My 2009 Turkey Trot Standings:
Results: 1:00:58 (2008 Turkey Trot 1:03:13)
Placed 2,122 out of 3,798 overall
Placed 857 out of 1,998 women
Placed 111 out of 257 women age 40-44 (yeah, next year I enter a new bracket!)