I went over to Tremonton this morning and ran the local turkey trot. I like little races like this and will probably run more during the winter just for fun , if I can find them. Registration was only $1 and you got a T-shirt too. This was put on by the Parks and Rec., and I thought they did a good job. The turn out was good around 140 people, not bad for little town fun run. The main reason I went was because I figiured I would see some of my XC guys, and I figured I could win my age and get a turkey.
I found Chris and Zach at the start and we warmed up for a mile. I was tired from staying up and playing Halo until 2:00 am with some friends in Ogden last night. Plus, I knew I couldn't run too fast with this achilles being flared up. Chris was also sore from starting basketball this week. We decided we would just run fast enough to win our groups and get our turkey, and we were hoping no one would show up to push us.
Neal Ferrin never showed but the Perry kid from Box Elder did, so we ended up running faster than we had hoped for. The weather was awesome, probably 55 degrees, unlike last week where it was 28 degrees at the start. Chris and I took off easy and worked our way out of the big pack that started off fast. We hooked in with the Perry kid and the three of us ran together the rest of the race. The course was flat and could be fairly fast if we didn't run half of it as cross country. Half of the course went down a road with construction, and the whole middle of the race was spent dodge steam rollers and construction. Chris and I visisted some along the way but the Perry kid was taxing himself and couldn't talk. With about 2/10s of a mile to go we were all together, and I knew that I was in for third place. Both Chris and the Perry kid were waiting to kick at the last corner and I knew with my achilles there would be no kick for me. I might have pushed the pace harder to avoid having to kick with some high school kids at the end but my achilles was maxed so I was going as I dared. Besides I knew I had my turkey in the bag, and they were only doing the age awards, so a win didn't matter to me. I told Chris it was time he started to kick if he wanted to win, and he did. The Perry kid tried to hang on, while I just cruised in. I ended up 3rd in 17:28, Chris was 1st 17:22, and the Perry kid was 17:26. Both me and Chris measured the course with our Garmins as right on 5k. Chris and I jogged back to cheer on some of the other XC kids and other runners. After the race Chris, Zach, and I ran a 1.5 mile cool-down. We all got turkeys and pies for our efforts and awards. I had a great time hanging some of my guys again and running a fun little 5k. I was happy with my effort and got a good workout in. It is a little frustrating though when I want to push sometimes and I can't get my 5k any faster than my 1/2 marathon pace, but I'll just hang in there and eventually this achilles will heal up.
(Adrenaline-413 miles) (Fastwitch -62 miles) | 