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This Thanksgiving I planned to drive 4 hours to my parent’s house in Mississippi, so I looked for a Turkey trot on the way since I didn’t have my son with me this year. I found one in Huntsville, which is about 1.5 hours away and started at 8:00am, so I got all packed, got up early and headed to Huntsville. When I got there and registered, I found out it wasn’t chip timed...oh well.<br><br>
Although it was in the low to mid 40s, rainy and windy, over 500 people showed up to run the race. There wasn’t a lot of communication, but I figured it out when the crowd gathered at the start line so I took my place there and without announcement or warning, the start horn sounded and we were off. After the weaving and dodging, I settled in to a pretty good pace and my first mile was 7:14. During my warmup and when I first started, my legs just felt tired. (Yeah here come the excuses...but since the MCM on Oct 28, I’ve ran a 5K on Nov 10, a 3 mile race, Nov 14, and a 5k today, so maybe I need to train more and race less now.)<br><br>
The course was a little hilly, but, although I hate it, it’s almost inevitable where I live. Just after the one mile point I started feeling that familiar burning in my stomach but still felt I could hold the pace, and was hoping I wouldn’t start feeling sick. I pressed on and was passing a few people, then wondered if we were close to halfway. However, I knew that I didn’t want to look down at my watch and see that I’d only been 1.2 miles, so I decided not to look at it and run the rest of the race "by feel".<br><br>
There was a turnaround point, but it was past halfway (I wasn’t sure how much past), and I saw the leader on his way back, but it was quite a ways until I got to the turnaround, and I tried not to count the people ahead of me at that point...it was tough though. At the turnaround I was feeling pretty fatigued and my old familiar "I’m gonna be sick" feeling returned. I think this thing is a combination of nerves and exertion because when I was running a warmup before the race I felt a little sick.<br><br>
I pressed on and a really tall guy in blue started to pass me but I picked up my pace to match his. We ran side by side for probably a quarter mile, then I had the choice...slow down or throw up...so I slowed down and let him pull ahead. I felt the hills and the wind at this point and was really wanting the race to end. I had slowed down and a few people were passing me but I knew if I pushed much harder I would get sick so I held back.<br><br>
Finally I see the finish line ahead and this guy who really doesn’t look like he should be faster than me (outweighs me by probably 50 lbs) starts to pass me, and I decide - throw up or not, I can’t let him pass me this close to the finish, so I kick it just enough to fight him off, and as I cross the finish, stop my watch at 23:39 - a 10 second PR...but my official time was 23:42, so only a 7 second PR. This was good enough to get me 9th of 43 in my age division and 89 of 502 overall.
Although it was in the low to mid 40s, rainy and windy, over 500 people showed up to run the race. There wasn’t a lot of communication, but I figured it out when the crowd gathered at the start line so I took my place there and without announcement or warning, the start horn sounded and we were off. After the weaving and dodging, I settled in to a pretty good pace and my first mile was 7:14. During my warmup and when I first started, my legs just felt tired. (Yeah here come the excuses...but since the MCM on Oct 28, I’ve ran a 5K on Nov 10, a 3 mile race, Nov 14, and a 5k today, so maybe I need to train more and race less now.)<br><br>
The course was a little hilly, but, although I hate it, it’s almost inevitable where I live. Just after the one mile point I started feeling that familiar burning in my stomach but still felt I could hold the pace, and was hoping I wouldn’t start feeling sick. I pressed on and was passing a few people, then wondered if we were close to halfway. However, I knew that I didn’t want to look down at my watch and see that I’d only been 1.2 miles, so I decided not to look at it and run the rest of the race "by feel".<br><br>
There was a turnaround point, but it was past halfway (I wasn’t sure how much past), and I saw the leader on his way back, but it was quite a ways until I got to the turnaround, and I tried not to count the people ahead of me at that point...it was tough though. At the turnaround I was feeling pretty fatigued and my old familiar "I’m gonna be sick" feeling returned. I think this thing is a combination of nerves and exertion because when I was running a warmup before the race I felt a little sick.<br><br>
I pressed on and a really tall guy in blue started to pass me but I picked up my pace to match his. We ran side by side for probably a quarter mile, then I had the choice...slow down or throw up...so I slowed down and let him pull ahead. I felt the hills and the wind at this point and was really wanting the race to end. I had slowed down and a few people were passing me but I knew if I pushed much harder I would get sick so I held back.<br><br>
Finally I see the finish line ahead and this guy who really doesn’t look like he should be faster than me (outweighs me by probably 50 lbs) starts to pass me, and I decide - throw up or not, I can’t let him pass me this close to the finish, so I kick it just enough to fight him off, and as I cross the finish, stop my watch at 23:39 - a 10 second PR...but my official time was 23:42, so only a 7 second PR. This was good enough to get me 9th of 43 in my age division and 89 of 502 overall.
