Turkey Trot

Before falling during a trail run and ending up with stitches in my knee, my fall plan was for the Tulsa Run to be my target race for the season and then to key off that training to run a fast 5k at the Turkey Trot. I knew the Turkey Trot was growing and would be more competitive and I was hopeful I would still be able to compete for a top 3 female spot. With 2.5 weeks off and just a few weeks back running before the race, I knew I likely wouldn't be competing for a top female spot, but I could be competitive in my age group and was hoping I would be able to get back down under 22 minutes. I had been back to running for 3 weeks and I usually do a 3 week build before a back off week, so I decided to do a back off week the week before the Turkey Trot and hoped that would help me execute the race really well. I was super excited the evening before the race because my Garmin was showing I was "peaking" which it has never showed before. Usually it either shows I am productive or maintaining. I figured that was a good sign and I was ready to rock the race!

We left the right after school Friday before Thanksgiving and were in Topeka until Wednesday. Then we traveled to Pittsburg for the rest of the break. We packed for 9 days and we all know looking at a forecast that far out isn't the best. When I packed for the race it showed it would in the low 40's at race start so I packed capri tights. I thought about packing full length tights in case it ended up being colder than forecasted, but I didn't have much room in my bag, so opted to be optimistic that it would be warmer for the race. Race morning was 28 degrees, feels like 20 degrees and I was really regretting that choice. I ended up borrowing a pair of tights from my mom that were old and not super tight so they moved and slid as I ran, but it was better than being super cold! I ran from my parents' house to the race start and realized I was running the last kilometer of the race which was nice to get a little heads up on what the last portion of the race would look like. I ended up with 1.5 miles as my warm up with 4 strides toward the end to get my legs ready to run faster.

I found Thomas after a quick porta potty stop and we went to the race start together. He was coming off a Sunday half marathon so wasn't going to be in top racing form either, but he's in much better shape than I am, so I knew we wouldn't be running together. I saw Julie who I ran against in high school and who won the race last year as well as the younger girl who I outkicked toward the end of the race last year to take 2nd overall. I wasn't sure about the other women around me and what they were capable of, but I knew those 2 would be strong competition. We took off and I counted 8 women ahead of me. I felt really strong and was pleased when my first mile split was 6:50. I was slowly catching women ahead of me and by the 2nd mile mark I worked my way into 5th female. My 2nd mile was 6:52 and I was really excited with how consistent I was running. I was slowly closing the gap to the women in 3rd and 4th and felt good about my ability to catch them. I wasn't sure that I would be able to gap them once I did, but I was sure I could reel them in. 

We hit the 4k mark where I had run my warm up and the woman in 4th had overtaken the woman in 3rd and was looking really strong. I could tell the woman in 4th was fading and I was confident I could pass her with authority, but wasn't sure about the one in 3rd. I passed into 4th with a half mile to go and she went with me. We both pulled up next to the woman in 3rd as we turned a corner and I pulled ahead of both of them. A few strides down the sidewalk, the woman who had been in 3rd came roaring past me and I just didn't have anything left to go with her. I knew I probably should have coasted behind her for a bit before passing her, but since the other woman had gone with me and we were running side by side, I had wanted to pull away from her and passed into 3rd too soon. I felt like I was really pushing it, but my last mile ended up being my slowest at 6:58. I had pushed really hard the 2nd mile to move up in the overall female standing, so I think that took enough out of me, I struggled a bit the last mile. I knew the woman behind me was really close so I pushed as hard as I could to hold onto 4th female and ran the last section of the race in 6:44 pace. I finished with an official time of 21:39. They changed the course this year and it was a smidge longer so even though my time was slower, I averaged a faster pace with a 6:53 average.

I walked away from the finish line excited with my time, but also wishing I'd been able to hold on a little better at the end and finish in 3rd overall female. When I looked at the race results I saw it showed I was 5th overall female. I was really confused and then saw that the woman who got 2nd overall started the race late so her chip time was faster, but she finished behind me with gun time. I felt better about not holding on to the woman I passed at the end since she was 4th overall anyway. Had I not missed out on training with my stitches, I think I could have been more competitive and been in the top 3, but given the circumstances, I was quite pleased with how I ran and I was only 14 seconds off 2nd place. Thomas finished in 20:41 which put him 41th out of 713 overall and 3rd out of 31 in his age group. I was 24th overall and was 1st out of 47 in my age group. After I finished, I ran back out on the course cheering for everyone and ran back in to the finish with Dad and Elise who ran together again. They finished in 163rd and 164th overall in 27:38. Elise was 2nd out of 26 in her age group and the only girl in front of her was 12. Dad was 2nd out of 16 in his age group and was only 35 seconds behind 1st place. Mom, Carter, and Ty all walked the course. Carter got tired so he and Ty cut back a bit early and didn't cross the finish line. Mom finished in 56:45 which put her 661st overall and 6th out of 7 in her age group.

Elise was 2nd but they called her as 3rd because they had a 12 year old boy listed as a girl in the results.

Since I was first in my age group, I got a blanket again. I love that they do that. It's a very fun and unique award.

Last year's race post can be found here. Before this race started, we ran the Joplin Turkey Trot in 2019, 2017, and 2016 and a Turkey Day 5k in Tulsa before that in 2015, 2014, and 2013. This race is by far our favorite! We also did a Virtual Turkey Trot during Covid.