Tampa Bay Times Turkey Trot 10k race report
42:09 time, 55th male, 62 overall, 4th AG
This was the first year since 2010 that the boys also ran the race (although that year we all did the 5k). This year, Andy wanted to do the 10k and at first Thomas said he wanted to do the mile race but was talked into switching to the 5k. Weather for the 5k was good, high 50's at 7:00 am start. We did some warm up together and I stuck around at the start line until the race started. It's a big uncontrolled start so I made sure he got up front. Results are only given for the first 125 male and female runners since there is no chip timing and the race is huge, they pass out race cards at the end until they run out. If you get a card, you also get a Turkey Trot coffee mug.
So, I head over to the finish line at the Clearwater High School stadium and see the first place guy come in at a little over 15 minutes. Time goes by pretty quickly but before long I see Thomas coming around the corner. His old PR was a couple weeks ago at the PHSC 5k race where he did 20:25. That race was small enough that you couldn't get boxed in and prett flat. This race has a pretty daunting looking hill late in the third mile which can slow you down. But, no matter I see him enter the stadium at about 19:30ish and see him finish still under 20:00, about 19:57 I think.
After the competitive 5k, they have a 5k fun run, and then the mile race. 10k starts at 9:00. Andy and I warm up some more (although mine is cut short due to porta potty lines). We get in line near the front just before 9:00. And then wait. Some sort of injury on the course delays the start. Now, it's getting kind of warm, maybe low 70's. Andy had been thinking about running it easy and just trying to run a little faster than the Dunedin Midnight run 10k back on July 4th. I talk him into going out sub-7:00 the first mile (nice downhill), then easing into a 7:00 to 7:15 pace and seeing what he's got left at the last mile. We start out and are pretty close for a good part of the first mile. I wasn't feeling in PR shape but wanted to get a good sub-7:00 pace run and try and earn a coffee mug. First three miles are good, I hit a rough spot for the fourth mile, feel a little bit better the 5th mile and think about not pushing the 6th mile. But then a guy passes me going just the right pace where I think I can hold on if I just concentrate on following him. This was fortunate as it got me back into the 6:40's. I passed him just as the 6th mile ended and he told me good job, I picked it up a little more into the stadium but got passed by another guy who came out of nowhere. I later found out that the guy I was following and helped me out turned out to be the husband of the woman I was following at the Brass Tap Half Marathon two weeks ago.
Splits: 6:35, 6:41, 6:41, 7:01, 6:50, 6:46, 0.25@6:08
I could see the clock just under 42:00 minutes but was too far out to make it under.
Waited for Andy, wondering how things went and in less than two minutes saw him coming around the corner and down the chute to get his race card. I had been watching the guy handing out the cards and hoping he didn't run out. He beat his old PR by ten minutes. Happy that we all got a mug, each running our races a little bit different. Thankful to have this opportunity to see them run.
After I got home, took Stella on the neighborhood loop with side trip to park (to drop off waste bag), about 2.1 miles in 21:11 (garmin was charging so distance approximate but pretty close)
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