Turkey Day 5k

Thanksgiving morning started with a 5k race for us. A few months ago when my mom asked if we wanted to run the race I said, "Of course!" It had become a tradition to run a 5k on Thanksgiving ever since we started spending the holiday at home. It wasn't until Ty asked me how I thought it would go running a half marathon on Sunday and then a 5k on Thursday that I realized the proximity of the races we had signed up for. I was pretty sore Monday and opted to take the day off running. We spent part of that day driving to Ty's parents' house for our Thanksgiving celebrations there. Tuesday's run was pretty good although I still felt pretty sore, running just under 9 minute pace. Wednesday I felt strong on my run and averaged 8:30 pace but I still didn't feel fully recovered. Thursday morning I walked half of the fun run with Carter, my mom, my dad, and Elise in the stroller. Then I jogged a mile warm up. My legs actually felt worse than they had the previous day which may have been in part due to playing soccer Wednesday morning before heading home from Ty's parents' house. I knew for sure I could run 8 minute pace and my ultimate goal for the race was to be under 25 minutes. I felt if I ran decently well I could break 23 minutes and if things went really well I could maybe crack 22 minutes. I figured I had run 7:15 pace during the half marathon so it wasn't too much of a stretch to think I could maintain that pace for the 5k on fatigued legs. My mom made us all matching turkey hats the first year we ran the race so although it was over 60 degrees we still wore them to the race. I opted to take mine off before running but others left theirs on. Read about last year's race here and our first year here.

Carter ready for the fun run.

Walking the fun run.

Our sweet little turkey, photo from my mom.

Dad, Thomas, and I all stood together at the start. Jeremy was a little bit further up than we were and Ty was back quite a ways. We took off and my legs felt better than I had expected. I could see that I wasn't too far back from the leaders so I figured I was most likely running a little faster than the 7:30 first mile I had anticipated. There was a water stop a little bit before the first mile and I went ahead and took a cup because I was feeling quite thirsty. We had burgers for dinner the night before and I had eaten way too many onion rings and fries. The salt and grease was definitely working against me! I went through the first mile in 6:58 and counted 5 females ahead of me. I attributed the faster first mile to the wind being at our backs and running down a slight hill that was really long. I'd say it was at least a quarter mile long and all I could think as we ran down it was that we were going to have to run up it on the way back since the course was out and back.

At the race start, photo taken by my mom.

When we hit the turn around I had worked my way up to 4th female and was closing in on the woman in 3rd. I went through the 2nd mile in 6:59 and was pleased with my consistency. I knew we were going to tackle that long hill during the last mile and the wind was a challenge on its own. That coupled with having run a half marathon on Sunday left my legs worn out and heavy. I caught up to the 3rd female toward the end of the hill and tried to pick the pace back up during the last half mile. I hit mile 3 in 7:06 which I felt was pretty good considering the hill and wind. As I neared the finish line I saw the clock ticking down to 22 minutes and knew I had too much ground to cover to break 22 minutes but pushed hard anyway. I ended up running 22:00 flat! That put my average pace at 7 minutes per mile which I was pleased with given the conditions.

Me heading toward the finish line, photo taken by my mom.

I cheered dad, Thomas, and Ty on and then took Carter and Elise in the stroller for a cool down mile because Carter was getting a little fussy. When he woke up that morning he asked me if it was morning. When I told him it was he said, "I'm still sleepy." I told him he could go back to sleep but he said he wanted to get up. They have hot chocolate at the finish each year and Carter was excited to get some but it was over 60 degrees so they didn't make any. Poor Carter had been looking forward to it all morning so that didn't help with his disposition. Oma said she'd take him to McDonald's for hot chocolate and pancakes which appeased him. We waited around for awards and Carter was all about his daddy. He yelled, "I want daddy," when someone else tried to hold him and snuggled into Ty looking like he could fall asleep. Jeremy and dad won their age groups. I was 3rd overall female as well as 3rd in my age group so we left with 4 medals. I gave mine to Elise and she had a blast playing with them. She would drop them on the ground occasionally and I'd bend over so she could pick them up which she thought was hilarious!

Ty finishing with me cheering him on, photo taken by my mom.

I thought this was a cool picture my mom took of me running my cool down.

Waiting for awards.

Jeremy finished 18th out of 462 overall in 21:25, winning his age group. My official finishing time was 22:00 minutes, good for 23rd overall, 3rd out of 241 females and 3rd in my age group. Dad came in next in 23:35, 40th overall and first in his age group. Thomas finished in 25:00, placing 63rd overall and 11th in his age group. Ty finished in 28:13, 109th overall and 16th in his age group.  On average we were all about a minute to a minute and a half slower than what we would normally run for a 5k. We ended the morning with some McDonald's breakfast which was enjoyable for all of us. Carter said, "I got some syrup on my pants," to which I looked over and saw syrup dripping off his lap which we all got a laugh out of. It was another successful Turkey Day 5k. Such a great way to spend our morning! I'm so thankful for the ability to run and for my mom signing us up for races that we otherwise wouldn't be able to run because we couldn't afford to register!