12.10.2015

Redmond Turkey Trot Race Recap

This might be a record for me on late race recaps.  I had hoped to have lots to say about it, since I actually trained for it and the training went well.  Although, sometimes, I suppose you just have an off day.  I was barely hitting paces that I could maintain at the end of an hour long progression run.  Bleh!  I suppose I could blame my so-so running on the beginning of a craptastic head cold.  But, I ran my half marathon PR in a similar situation.  Sudafed did NOT help for this 5K.  

I could blame it on the coldest weather experience I've had in over a decade!  Most Seattle-ites do not spend significant time in the great outdoors when it's below freezing.  And, I haven't felt that "my fingers are in pain and might fall off" feeling since we lived in Chicago.  We did do a nice little warm up, but only a half mile.  Maybe I should've done more?  I felt fine, as far as body temp goes, once we got started.  But there were one or two patches were I was wary of ice.  


could also blame my time on a bad start and messing around with my electronics.  Which is the LAMEST thing ever, I know.  I was discombobulated since the gun went off a few minutes EARLY (when does that ever happen??) while my watch was still looking for a signal and I had yet to start my music.  At least a got a lovely picture with my buddy Lauren in the first mile.


Lastly, I could cite the fact that the results were probably not in chip time, but gun time.  Both Dawn and Lauren's Garmin's reflected this, as I'm pretty sure mine did.  My final time was recorded as 26:56 and my Garmin missed the first .4 miles of the race.  Here's what I did get on my Garmin.



I REALLY don't think it took me 4 minutes and 47 seconds (a 12 minute pace) in the beginning. Plus, I didn't stop my watch immediately after crossing the mats.  Either way, I certainly didn't place in the top three of my age group to get a pie (which I was secretly hoping for).  But Lauren did!  Yay!


Looking at the results, if I'd run my PR of 25:29 I would've got a second place pie for my age group.  Wah!  Ah well.  Maybe next time?  Getting 5th out of about 30 wasn't terrible.  I'm also happy with the fact that I finished strong, with slightly faster paces as I went along.


As for the event, it was all around a nice little race (VERY LITTLE with just 230 participants) and checked all the boxes on things I love about races: Saturday! (also NOT the weekend of Thanksgiving!) Inexpensive! Local! Small! Easy parking! Free photos! (Thank you Woodinville Bicycle!)  There were even medals for all, and pies for age group winners.  The course was nice, starting and ending in the middle of Redmond Town Center Plaza, while utilizing the nearby Samammish River Trail.  I would CERTAINLY run it again if they keep the date the same; it could be a nice little tradition.

In the meantime, I'm seriously considering throwing out the idea of constantly obsessing over a sub 2 hour half marathon and gunning for a freaking 5K PR that has eluded me for THREE YEARS.  Sheesh.  2016 might be the year of the 5K Revolution... (Because when Lauren Fleshman says it's awesome, it is.)

1 comments:

  1. DO IT. Spend next year building your speed over the 5k distance and get super speedy, then in 2017 take that speed into a good half. Changing focus could be fun!

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