Happy Turkey Trot Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am really happy I ran a turkey trot this morning, even if I did spend more time in the car than I did running and each minute cost more than $1.

To anyone who has the iPhone 5/iOS 6 and lives somewhere where they drive often, the above picture is not a big deal. But I thought that the turn-by-turn navigation on the iPhone was absolutely amazing. I guess nobody needs to ever buy a GPS device any more, huh?

I woke up this morning and drove about 25 minutes to Upper Saddle River to run the Dick Meighan 5K.

Going into the race, I didn’t really think PR-ing was possible, but I thought I’d try to run hard anyway.

I’m pretty glad I didn’t look at the map in advance, because I would have seen this bitch of a hill in the first mile.

When I lined up, I tried to wiggle my way relatively close to the front so I wouldn’t have to spend much time weaving, but I just kept getting pushed back. The race started, and we immediately started climbing uphill and I couldn’t get around people, and I thought “Screw it, don’t try to PR.”

Then I hit the the top of the hill and thought “Screw that, run your heart out. It’s only 3.1 miles.” Luckily I had a nice little downhill at that point to push me. Downhills are definitely a better place than uphills to decide your strategy for the race. By then the pack had thinned, and I could pick up speed. I looked at my watch somewhere after the first mile and saw that I was at a sub-8:00 pace. Precisely what I wanted to see. My 5K PR is 23:33, a 7:35 pace. I thought that as long as I could keep a sub-8:00 pace, I’d be happy. I didn’t have the extreme rage to push me that I did when I got that PR.

I ran hard and looked at my watch a few times but tried really hard not to focus on the math and just run. Around 2.67, I saw I was around 18:30ish, and I thought a PR might be possible. Then, of course, the race headed up another hill before the finish. I tried not to lose steam on that uphill, but I couldn’t help but lose some.

I came around a corner and sprinted with all I had to the finish–and that .1(6) was a sub-7:00 pace! (I have no idea where my Garmin is right now, but I remember seeing that and being really happy.)

Updated to add splits:

1: 8:04

2: 7:21

3: 7:10

.1(6): 1:03 (6:39 pace!)

23:38? Only 5 seconds off my PR? I’ll take it. I know if I’d edged up a bit, I probably would have been able to PR…but oh well. I gave the race my best shot, and I am happy with the time.

Updated to add: According to official results, my time was actually 23:48. Still happy with it–especially since that got me 6th in my age group! (And that’s out of 79, not 7.)

Afterwards, some guy recognized me from my blog and he said this blog helped him through NYCM training last year, as he trained for his first marathon. By help, I think he means he started taking ice baths with beer too.

And then I saw this dude in a banana suit, and I basically chased him clear across the middle school gym to get a picture with him.

So it was an awesome way to start the holiday.

Any turkey trots for you today??

And now, of course, I want to find another 5K.