It has become a tradition for the family to run the turkey trot at the South Davis Rec Center. I wasn't sure if I would race it or run it with the kids. A couple of days ago, Gracie told me she wanted to run on her own so I decided to race it. With the 20 extra pounds that I am lugging around I knew it would be a little slower than what I would like but I am fine with it. Woke up and ran an easy 3 miles to get the muscles warmed up. It was surprisingly warm. It was a perfect racing temperature. After a late start (which has become the norm for races at the SDRC) we were off. My race plan was to run the first mile in 6:00 and then the last 2 at 6:30 (worst case scenario) and come in around 19:30. First mile was 5:55 and the next 2 came in at 6:30 as expected. I didn't feel like I slowed as much as I did. There is an elevation gain during the last 2 miles but not enough to cost 30 seconds per mile. I stayed even with the runners ahead of me until the last 1/2 mile when they pulled away.
After the race, I ran back to find the kids. First came across Emma and told her I would check on the others. Ashton and Gracie were about 1 minute behind (he was a good big brother to stay back with his sister). I then ran back up to Emma. She ended up 1st in her age group and Gracie was 2nd. Becky took 2nd in her age group (23 minutes) so we ended up winning 4 pies.
Backing off the last 2 miles actually is a good thing because I am running another 5k tomorrow morning. It is more of a fun run where everybody dresses up in a Santa suit. Should be interesting. | 