The annual Turkey Trot at the Bangor Naval Base was today, and the weather was crappy, which is also a tradition. Actually, the rain held off until almost all runners were finished, so I shouldn't complain. It was a good crowd out there, our club had about eight runners and there were some other friends in the running community to see.
As always there was a crew of high school cross country runners just off a season of running 5ks out front, and I let that lead pack go. No studs, but the kids are ready for that distance. I ran a good first mile, but that's helped by two short downhill portions. 5:46. I was a little lazy on the second mile, Henry from the Slugs caught me and we ran together. We were a little lackadasical, giving high fives on the return looped portion. Oh well, had to have fun. 6:20 for the second. The third mile we could see the string of runners in the top ten, there's a long straight stretch. We picked up the pace after the second to last hill and surged to catch one guy. I separated from Henry was within striking distance of another, but the last hill is always nasty and I could quite take him. So I followed two high school kids for the lap on the track to the finish, couldn't quite stretch it out, which happened last year as well. The finishing speed isn't there in November (if ever). Just north of 19 minutes, and I really wanted to go under. But it was a good race, reminded me how different the pacing and thinking is for that distance, and then.... I WON A TURKEY IN THE RAFFLE. So it turned into a great race. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
supernova glide -- 72
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