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