Team /var/run Virtual Turkey Trot Ten TKay 2013
Leave a commentNovember 28, 2013 by Amy B
I started thinking about Turkey Trotting back after the marathon. A 10K seemed like the perfect distance to train for. Also, I’m not quite ready to put myself all out there for a puke-your-guts-out effort of a 5K.
I looked at races in the Twin Cities (where I knew we’d be spending the holiday) but couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on any race entries. Some were expensive, some weren’t conveniently located, and since our travel schedule is somewhat unpredictable (okay, most of the time we end up driving all night and getting into town in the wee hours of the morning), I feared I’d sign up for a race and then be too tired the day of to will myself to the starting line. Also: I’m pretty useless transporting myself anywhere around town (thank god for GPS). I do know how to get to the closest Caribou Coffee and Target and Cub Foods, though.
If I’d stayed at home, I would’ve suggested to my running teammates that we participate in the local Turkey Trot. I’m all about local races, so maybe one year down the road. The idea of a virtual turkey trot came up, probably at one of our Friday lunch meetings, and so it came to be. Bonus: no entry fee and run whenever (and wherever) the hell you want.
Sidenote: my little cousin ran her first 10K in Detroit’s Turkey Trot this morning (yay, Sam!). I noticed they now get cool shirts and medals with their entry. I haven’t run the Detroit TT in years (maybe 2002 or 2003?) and hell, did we get a shirt? Um, no. Boo. Guess I’ll have to put that one back on the race list.
Not that it’s all about medals and shirts for me. I’m all about the hardware, but only for half maras and fulls. And the shirts? Meh. I haven’t gotten a race shirt that I’ve loved for a long time.
So back to the VTTTT.
I plotted out what I thought was a 10K route (after remembering that a 10K is 6.2 miles, not 6.1, oops) and after catching a few hours of sleep after a late arrival in St. Paul, I was able to get out the door mid-late morning. Weather? I couldn’t ask for better winter weather. Slight westerly wind that kind of sucked during the second half, but no snow meant I could wear my Pure Flow2s without some type of shoe traction device.
Michigan Tech cap I won at a EE department hockey game, represent!
I ran my favorite loop around Long Lake with an extra small loop tacked onto the front. The lake is starting to freeze over here.
I felt like I was starting out a little too fast. Actually, that was confirmed after the first beep on the Garmin: 9:18. The second mile included a little hill that I was sure slowed me down (nope: mile 2 = 9:04). When I clocked the third at 8:53 I had to decide: was I going to continue to push it and go for a PR or dial it back and just enjoy myself? I decided to try to push the pace as long as I could without hitting the puke zone and go for a sub-hour time. I was fairly confident I could do that.
I stopped for a few seconds somewhere during mile 4 to snap the photo above and grab my salted caramel GU. That was the only time I intentionally let up during the run.
It was a little frustrating at the end to hit the point where I thought I’d mapped it to 6.2 and have to find another .2 to run to hit the mileage mark. I’m not sure why it was so far off, but I ran up and down the street a few times to get the extra mileage. By that point, I was really sucking wind and just glad to be done running.
I tried to pull that in under 57:00 but oh well. So close. I also tried to do the run eat repeat running pose for my “extra credit selfie.” Um, no.
Here are the splits. Not negative, but I’m pretty happy anyway.
Turns out my PR for a 10K at home is 57:00 on a course that is flatter. So in a way, it feels like a PR.
Sadly, this run was not followed up by turkey and fixings, since we eat our Blakesgiving dinner on Friday. I did however, enjoy a piece of bad frozen lasagna (don’t ask) and a chai cola (so going to be going back to the store where I got these and stocking up for special occasions).
We took the kids to Como Park Zoo for a quick trip to see the animals. I’ve made cranberry relish, pumpkin swirl cheesecake, and a bunch of pie crusts which are waiting to be filled by my snoozing husband. All in all, not a bad day, and plenty to be thankful for.
Hoping my fine readers spent a great day with their friends, family, or both. And thanks to Cub Foods for staying open until 2pm today for losers like us who didn’t have all the ingredients for pumpkin pie and needed to grab an extra bird.
May the days ahead be filled with running, pie, and leftovers.
amy (up north) runs 