

Turkey Trot!
My 4th race was the Turkey Trot, in Brewer. I have heard good things about this one, but this was my first time doing it. One of my friends has been running and had never done a race before, so I conned her into encouraged her to do this one. We made plans weeks ago, and I registered, and when I saw her on Wednesday and said “are you all set for Sunday!?” she confessed she had not registered yet. After some research, we learned that that didn’t matter, so she didn’t have any excuses left — the weather was great, and her husband was going to run with her, too. Plus, I pulled out my phone and showed her all of my data that proved that she was going to TOTALLY smoke me so she shouldn’t be nervous about her place in the pack at ALL.
They picked me up (and dropped off their daughter for a playdate at our house) and we got there with plenty of time to register. We got there about 12:15 and they were registered and bibbed by 12:30 I think, and that was with coming in the wrong door and so totally missing the organizers and entry table completely. We saw several other people we knew, and the weather was PERFECT for a race. This isn’t a 5k, but a straight 3 miler, that is mostly flat with a hill in the middle. The race started and I veered left and just put in my 5k workout (intervals of 8 minutes running and 3 walking) and set my music to shuffle. (I hate that it seemed to pick way too mellow music though – I should make a playlist of the faster stuff to shuffle for things like this.) I started too fast (this is why I want a Garmin, I just don’t know how fast I am going at any given time because my phone doesn’t track well if I hold it, and I don’t LIKE holding it, so I only get pace updates for my intervals) so my shins hurt, but oh well. I did run up most of the hill, and I ran through parts of my walking sets, and just enjoyed myself. One thing I like about races (and I liked about doing the Freaky 5k 2 years in a row) is that the first one gives me a benchmark to beat the next year. My final time was 39:27! And my friends? As I told her, she DID smoke me, by about 7 minutes! And got that First Race done and (I think) had a good experience. We didn’t stick around for the raffles, so if they drew my name and I could’ve won many hundreds of dollars, please don’t tell me so. (I HAD to get home because we had tickets to a show an hour later.)
- This was my first out and back course, which was kind of neat. I would never, ever see the powerful runners if not for an out and back, and sure, having the winner sail by my in the other direction before I hit mile 1 is kind of crazy, but so impressive! And it was great to see all the people I knew.
- They had students (it was a fundraiser for the high school) at mile 1 and mile 2 calling out the time, which was so cool. In the absence of a Garmin, I appreciated that. And there was some guy with a smartphone between mile 2 and the end calling times, too, just on his own.
- I wore my Team Sparkle skirt again, and got several comments AND got recognized by another friend just because I was wearing it. I think I might make it a habit. I wore it to be the distraction for my nervous friend, and also it makes me feel less angst about running in tights. Also, it makes me faster. Pretty sure.
- The weather was perfect. Bluebird sky, windless, cool and crisp at about 40 degrees.