Turkey Trot

I'm standing in my closet the Saturday morning of the Wichita Turkey Trot staring at my shirts.  Which one to wear?  Such a tough decision.  Do I go long sleeve, or short sleeve?  Dark color or bright color?  Am I starting to sound female yet?  It can be a tough choice, picking out the right outfit for a race.  My main holdup is always trying to predict what the weather will be like in a few hours time, and how much will I sweat.  For the Turkey Trot, I went on the warmer side and picked out a long sleeve shirt.

I didn't do myself any favors leading up to race.  I added about 4 pounds since my marathon the previous month, and the night before, my wife made burritos for dinner.  I suppose I could've made my own high carb dinner, but I love my wifey's flavor of burritos.  Nevertheless, I've got my sights set on a PR.

I felt pretty good as the horn went off.  The first couple miles always seem so effortless.  As I got to the second mile, my friend Julie Campbell caught up to me.  She said she was treating this as a training run for the Memphis marathon in a few weeks, and she planned on an 8:00 pace for the Turkey Trot.  I informed her that her pace was about 45 seconds fast, but she was feeling good, so we ran together and chatted a bit over the next 2 miles.  Eventually I pulled away from her as she wasn't wanting to over do it.  The race is a "down and back" so I first get to see all the runners ahead of me as they head back, which was a little depressing, but then after turning around I got to pass the other runners and give occasional high 5s to the ones I knew.

Even before the turnaround, this race was getting tough.  My heart rate was hovering around 90-95% of max. so it kinda felt like a 5 or 10k, but lasting longer, and there was a bit of a head wind in the second half.  Despite all this, I was able to maintain my pace.  My legs were feeling fine as they were in marathon distance shape, but the cardio was my limiting factor.  In the last 5 miles there was only one guy who passed me about mile 7, while I passed a whole bunch of runners, picking them off one by one until I got to the home stretch.  Despite my last mile being a negative split, who should surprise me from behind with an encouraging word and out kick me to the finish but Julie herself.  She set an over 40 PR and took 1st place in her age group as a result of feeling better on race day than planned and giving into that competitive drive.  I too set a PR, finishing in 1:12:55, although the official results show me crossing in 1:13:05.

Afterwards, I partook in a turkey brat, and visited with lots of friends until I got to the curfew my wife set for me (she knows my ability to socialize and she had plans that afternoon).

My Turkey Trot Stats
Overall Place	99/873
Age Group.	7/49
Finish Time	1:12:55
Average Pace.	7:16

Trying to Build Some Momentum

It's already been a couple weeks since I last posted, and I find myself being drawn to the keyboard for some blogging, even though I haven't run a race or had a major breakthrough in that time.  I do, however, have a small list of things to talk about.  Note of forewarning:  I will probably be playing my 'engineer' card from time to time meaning I'm to be known more for my math skills than my writing skills, so bear with me while I try to move from thought to thought.  I'll try not to use nerdy words like 'binary', 'algorithm', or 'cantilever', as in "My leg accidently cantilevered over the curb, as I adjusted my pocket protector on my last run".  But I digress...

Wednesday I signed up to run the 10 mile Wichita Turkey Trot.  I've ran it for the last 5 years, and I'm pretty sure I can PR this badboy since I just set a marathon PR.  Hope I'm not jinxing myself, but I think I can sustain a sub 7:15 pace if the conditions are good.

I'm starting to get psych'd up for a string of PRs.  One reason I'm in a position to PR is the mileage I've been running this year.  I've already surpassed last year's total mileage, and today I eclipsed the 2000 mile mark for the first time, which has always been a target.  I guess I'm due, I've been at a plateau the last couple years (with no PRs) starting with a minor overuse knee injury, and it looks like I'm finally breaking through.  Speaking of mileage, here's my stats for the week:

11/8/2010 Weekly Mileage
Mon.	2	8.75 min/mi
Tue.	12	intervals 10 x 1 mi
Wed.	7	8.4 min/mi
Thur.	10	7.6 min/mi
Fri.	7	8.4 min/mi
Sat.	13	incline 1% - 8%
TOTAL	51

I'm pretty happy with a 51 mile week considering I didn't have any runs of over 13 miles.  That 2 miler on Monday looks a bit out of place.  About all I can say in my defense is the YMCA turned into social hour that morning.

I just got through reading August's issue of 'Runner's World'.  I know I've been slacking a bit to just be finishing the August edition, but hey, I've got a wife and 3 kids who like to spend time with me when I'm not running or working, or at least that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it.  One RW article reviewed different compression socks.  I've never owned a pair, and I am skeptical whether they would make any difference, but it seems people swear by them.  Earlier this week after my 12-miler, my left calf felt real tight, and while more running didn't make it worse, it took a few days to go away.  I'm actually thinking about investing in some compression socks now.  If these socks really improve performance and recovery, maybe Trojan should set aside some R&D funds...  ha.

I will leave you with some running demotivational posters I've collected from the net.

This is a normal occurance for me.

Not a normal occurance for me.

Do age group victories count?

I think this guy needs a better attitude.