Turkey Trot 5K

Since JD was tapering for his second marathon in 14 days, the boys and I decided to run the Prince William Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day.  This was a new race for us and was sponsored by The Running Store and Fun Run Racing.  It was really well done, easy logistics, and super fun.  The race was at the Freedom Center so the parking was easy, and we could wait inside to stay warm and use the bathrooms before the race.  We will definitely be making this an annual tradition if we are in town for Thanksgiving. 

We knew the course was going to be pretty flat so we thought we would race it.  Zach had a goal to stay sub-8 for the whole race, and Nic was going to try to PR.  I had been planning to run with Nic.

At the start line, both of the boys took off.   I couldn't stay with them at the start, but usually Nic fades back to me after the first quarter mile or so.  Not on Thanksgiving!

Zach right out with the lead pack

 I could see him right up ahead hanging onto the back of Zach.  I pushed as hard as I could on the first mile, but I still couldn't catch him.  My Garmin recorded a 7:35 for the first mile.  Zach easily had to be sub-7 because he hit that mark way ahead of me, and I'm thinking that Nic was right in the low-7s.  That was just crazy because this summer at track they had both PR'd their mile with 7:3xs.

Zach in the hurt locker!

 At this point I figured I would try to race it for myself since the kids had left me, and I had a strong first mile.  I was really hurting from that hard first mile though, and my legs were feeling heavy.  I haven't run fast in quite a while so it was really a different feeling.  I hit the second mile at 8:16 so a pretty big drop off from the first mile, but I still hadn't caught the kids even though they had slowed.  Right around this point, I noticed that Nic had caught up to Zach, and that they were running together.  I saw them on an out and back and yelled encouragement.  Surprisingly, Nic looked really good, at ease, relaxed, and strong.  Zach looked like he was hurting pretty badly at that point.  I suspect that his hard first mile had really hit him.  His Garmin had lost satellite right as the gun went off so he didn't know his splits and was worried about that as well.  I just blew up in the last mile and ran an 8:43 in the last mile so I basically did everything wrong in running a 5K.  My time wasn't awful (25:46), but it was way off my PR (almost 45 seconds slower) which was on the same course.  I was pretty irritated with myself because I probably could have age grouped if I had PRd. As it stood, I ended up 6/65.  Nicolas ended up beating Zach at the end of the race and having a massive PR with a 24:39 finish (7:56 pace) and 6/31 in his age group.  Zach also had a huge PR despite a bad last mile 24:49 (8:00 pace) and 7/31 in his age group.  We were super proud of both of the boys for their hard effort. 

Zach's finish!

Best series of finish line photos ever as this guy kills himself because a little kid is not beating him.

Me completely unthrilled with this whole running fast thing

While we are talking about being super proud, Nic was the second grade boy winner for his elementary school 1/2 mile Turkey Trot!!!  He ran a great race and paced right off of the lead boy until he ran him down at the end.  Zach ended up 3rd for the 4th grade boys for his mile race.  He tried to pace himself a little too much and couldn't catch the leader at the end.  Too bad it wasn't a longer race, or he would have had them because they were fading. 

2nd grade Turkey Trot champ