Turkey Trot 5K Recap

Turkey Trot 5K/10K

Fergus Falls 11/15/14

In late August, I signed up for the 5K Turkey Trot with my sister.  She had won the 6 race series in her area, and the award was going to be presented after the Fergus Falls Turkey Trot in November.  My sis is pretty awesome, and naturally she is my hero.

I was in rough shape.  In the two weeks after Surf the Murph, I had tried three runs, and I had not been able to get to two miles on any of them.  I took the week before the race completely off.  

It snowed the week before the race.  The streets/sidewalks had a lot of hard pack snow and some ice on them.  It was going to be a slow cautious race for a couple reasons.

My nephew also wanted to run, so we all also signed up for the one mile run before the 5K race.

My knee didn't feel too bad on the one mile run. Maybe taking it easy for a couple weeks was going to do the trick.  We ran together for the first half mile. After that, my nephew took off in a quest for the podium.  He passed third place with about 4 blocks to go, and he held on to take the bronze position.  I ran about a nine minute mile; I felt pretty good and optimistic.

My nephew wasn't going to run the 5K.  He found a warm spot to wait it out in the school, and my sis and I went to line up for the 5K.  It was in the teens but there was nearly no wind.  It was reasonable weather for a run, but the footing made it a pretty silly idea.

At the go signal, my first step tweaked my knee.  I started off slow and tried to loosen it up.  It didn't help; it was the same pain on the side of my knee, and it felt like I had a bruise behind my kneecap. A mile into the run, I knew this was going to be the last run of the year.

I stuck it out with a time of 29:00.  My knee felt a little better in the third mile, but I was doing more harm than good.  Around the last corner, I decided to catch the lady in front of me.  She was about a block ahead of me, so I sprinted as best I could (idiot) and caught up.  It seemed like a dick move to pass right at the line, so I pulled up and finished one second behind her.

So that's it; I'm probably done running for the year.  I'm definitely out for the half marathon in a couple weeks.  It's been a good year.  I did a few 5K races, one 10K, two sprint triathlons and one long trail run.

Below are my totals since I signed up for the Lake Marion Sprint Triathlon in February.

Running
Total:                   340 miles
Average length:  3.3 miles
Average Pace:     9:39

Biking
Total Road:          182 miles
Average Length:  11.3 miles
Average Speed:    16 mph    
Total Stationary:  13:27 hours
Avg. Stationary:   33 minutes

Swimming
Total:         14.6 miles
Average:    0.54 miles

Workouts
Total:        11:15 hours
Average:   29 minutes

Me with my sis and nephew
before the 1 mile run.

Dan Patch 5K Recap

Although I was happy that I finished a 5K race in May, I wasn’t terribly happy with my time.  The Dan Patch 5K takes place about 2 miles from my house, so I signed up with the hope that I could finish with a time that would make me proud. 

Also, I decided that I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket and only run the Lake Marion triathlon in August.  I figured that if the weather was bad or if I monkeyed it up good, then this would just be a big summer of disappointment.  So, I also signed up for the Chaska River City Days triathlon in July.  Both are spring distances, we’ll see how it goes.

I’ve been splitting my days pretty evenly between run, bike and swimming.  I’ve been trying to push a little faster for the runs. I’ll don’t think I’ll ever be fast.  I think I’m just too big, and I’m scared of busting up my knees with speed training.  Anyhoo, on one training run I hit 7:50 on the first mile out. I paid for it on the rest of the run, but I was pretty happy with where my times were going.

Race day for the Dan Patch was sunny, warm and little wind.  My goal was to break 26 minutes; I had gotten close to that in training runs, but I hadn’t broken through 26.  My 5K race in May was over 32 minutes.

I showed up way too early again, and I ended up sitting, walking around and stretching in the Lifetime Fitness parking lot for about ten minutes (registration and start line were in the parking lot).  I hadn’t had any real pain in training coming into Dan Patch, so I was ready to hit it.

I started at the back of the pack and decided I was going to try to get a fast first mile out.  I passed a lot of the pack in the first quarter mile, and then settled into a pace.  There was a spray paint line on the sidewalk to indicate the one mile mark; it’s anyone’s guess how accurate that was.  By my watch, I hit that mark at 7:40.  That seemed fast, but I was trying to push it.  The race is mostly flat; there is a little uphill on the second mile and a little downhill on the third mile. 

When I got to the third mile, I was tired.  Several people passed me in the last five minutes.  Once I could see the finish line I tried to speed up again, but I didn’t have much left.  As I came around the last turn, I could see that the clock was still in the 25^th minute, and I couldn’t have been more relieved.  I slowed a little as I reached the finish line, and I clocked in at 25:43 with an 8:16 pace.

Looking at the posted results, I noticed that two guys finished at 25:44.  I don’t know if they just didn’t catch me, or if they were nice enough not to pass me at the finish line.  I like to think the latter is true, and I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever in that position.  I would have felt pretty rotten if I had been passed right at the finish line.

My first tri is in a month.  I’ll probably pull back on the speed and try to get in some longer work outs.  I’m glad I did this 5K; I doubt I’ll break 26 minutes again this summer.

Lakeville 5K Recap

My first race!  

On February 17, I signed up for the Lake Marion Sprint Triathlon and the Run2Walk 10K.  The 10K was going to be on May 17, 2014 and the Triathlon was on August 17, 2014.   To that point I had been dinking and dunking with a max of 5K runs on my treadmill in the basement.  I started running on August 19, 2013.  I figured all the dates must be a sign. I wanted something to take up my obsession after finishing the fundraising for the 2014 Prior Lake Polar Plunge, and I figured that if I didn’t have a goal that I was going to quit running.

Anyhoo, after about a month of running and trying to increase speed and mileage too quick, I hurt my hip and knee on the left side.  I took a two week break from running, and came back without any pain.  After a couple weeks back, I took another couple weeks off due to a terrible spring cold.  The time off meant that I would not be ready for the 10k on the May 17 race.  I decided to work toward the race and try to transfer my registration to the 5K race. 

On the day before the race I stopped by the dance studio (that’s right, dance studio) to pick up my race packet and to try to change my registration.  I asked if I could drop down in distance and the lady at the front desk said it wouldn’t be a problem.  Well, that was easy…

On race day, I wore a long sleeve t-shirt and shorts.  I had never ran in a long sleeve t-shirt before, but it was a chilly morning and there was a bit of a breeze. I didn’t arrive too early, but I was early enough that I felt self-conscience about standing around.  I did my normal pre-run stretching and also felt a little silly.  Some say that stretching doesn’t do any good, but I always do it and I usually don’t get hurt so I’ll keep doing it. 

The 10K runner were sent off first, and I kinda felt like a failure when I saw them leave.  To this point, I had never actually run 5K outdoors.  Actually, I had only run outside twice for about 2 miles each time.  I briefly thought about taking off with them, but I was able to not be stupid this time.  That’s something that I’m not always able to do. 

When the 5K runners went off, I began at the back of the pack and started with a slow pace.  I really didn’t want to end up walking.  The race was an out and back on the same street.  Out on one sidewalk and in on the other.  There were three reasonably sized hills and you obviously hit each of them twice.  On the first hill, I gave up on what I thought was a slow pace (it was still pretty slow) and started passing people.  It was a charity race so there were plenty of walker and run/walkers.  The run out was into the wind and away from the rising sun.  COLD!  My hands were nearly numb after a mile.  I found my pace and kept going.  At one point I passed a couple teen boys and one said to the other, “Did Tom Brady just pass us?” and the other said, “I think it was.”  They were joking around, but it still made me feel good and it helped with the cold run motivation. 

There was water at the turn around.  It seemed silly to me to drink on a 5K so I ran by and started the back side.  The back side was with the wind and into the rising sun.  It must have felt like a 20° difference.  At this point the group had also thinned out, and I ran by myself most of the way back.

There was one teen boy a ways ahead of me that had dropped from run mode to run/walk mode.  He heard me coming and kept trying to stay ahead of me.  I just kept my pace.  I passed him on an uphill, and then he passed me shortly after.  I passed him again near the end, when he had slowed.  As I passed I said, “It’s that last tenth of a mile that always kills ya.”  I meant it to be friendly, but I realize now that I probably sounded like a dick. 

I finished at 32:10 with a 10:12 pace.  I was a little disappointed with my time, but for my first genuine 5K run I ended up being relatively proud of my accomplishment. 

I didn’t stick around for the results at the race; I just checked them out online.  When the results were finally posted, I was listed under the 10K racers with a 5:12 pace.  I felt like an idiot.  I called in and got the listing changed, but still felt like an idiot. 

There have been a few moments where, in my younger days, I would have quit running or working towards the triathlon in August.  My first outside run was started and ended with my neighbor razzing me by “cheering” me on.  He's a nice enough guy and he meant it to be fun, but in the past that would have embarrassed me into hiding. The same goes for the mis-listing of my 5K time.  Now, it doesn’t bother me so much.  I love running, and I’m not stopping.