Sadly, I was stuck in NC for Thanksgiving since I had to work on Black Friday (Parents and bro in Seattle, sister in Buffalo) so I consoled myself by signing up for 3 Turkey Trots – A half marathon, an 8k, and a 5k. And no family to make me fat (Chinese moms will argue with you when you say you’re full). What a win-win. Unfortunately, Bambi’s big sister thought I needed to stop at 2 Trots (Bad car accident an hour before the 5k). This is probably good because 3 Reports in one post sounded good last week…but not so fun right now.
Saturday Nov 20 -Pinehurst Turkey Trot HM
You really cant beat a half marathon for $30 – esp when you get the chance to run with a friend. Cary is so much fun to run with! We did the first 15 of Nashville together and then she came to Raleigh to do Komen in a tutu. So it was my turn to come down to her home turf.
Pinehurst is home to some really nice golf courses, nestled in the sandhills region of NC. I knew there’d be hills but the total elevation change of the course didnt look too scary – sandhills schmandhills!!
The website said the race started at 8:30 so my friend Jamie (of Run for the Booty and Crystal Coast fame) and I left her house in time to pick up my packet and for her to do race day registration. Unfortunately, the race had sold out of bibs and chips but they were offering people a chance to pay $15, sign a waiver, and run anyway. Pretty cool in my book.
What wasn’t cool – 2 port-a-potties at the start! WTF!!! 1,500 people at a sold out race and you give us 2 port-a-potties? This race had a HM, 10k, and a 5k…why are there fewer restrooms than races?? BAD!! While in the longest line in America, I met a grandma in a 2010 NYC marathon shirt who was saying she just ran her 78th Marathon. Not only had this lady ran NYC, she told another girl that she had ran the Richmond marathon the week prior, and she was running an Ultra the next weekend. AND if that wasn’t enough – she said she had the month of Nov off work because she broke her collar bone. Then I heard her say “NYC is an easy course. Richmond is difficult. This is a really hard half” WHAAAAAA? This is not want I want to hear from someone who seems super human. It really didnt look that hard on the chart. Maybe she’s gotten her races confused?
I found Cary and regurgitated what Super Granny said. I told her I had no time goals other than have fun. She confessed she hadnt ran >10k since the summer and she just wanted to be under 2:30. So, we agreed to stick together the whole race. The start was congested and there was no start mat…but what do you expect for $30? We settled into a comfortable pace and chatted away. The first mile was a small, steady incline but not bad followed by a flat mile 2. Maybe Grandma really got her races confused?
The steep hill in mile 3 made me cry a little but after that the rolling hills were quite manageable. However, when you’re having fun talking to someone you dont see often, its easy to not notice you’re going down more than up. We hit 10k in 1:04 and we both feelin great. We were going around a lake, which was gorgeous. I wish I had taken my camera on the run. Life was good.
Mile 7 was the start of my death march. They were the kind of hills that suck the life out of you, the kind that make you wish you were dead so you dont have to run anymore. Cary, who lives in the area and is a much better hill runner than me, def kept my mood up as we tackled them. If I had been alone I might have resorted to a pity party. We were slowing down a lot. There were some down hills but they were steep and provided little break. Right around mile 9.5 I wanted to roll over on the ground but Cary pushed me through it.
Finally at mile 11 everything was good in the world again. I was feeling a lot better. At this point we were passing walkers, and since the roads werent closed I stayed about 2 ft in front to make sure there was room on the side of the road for everyone but I kept turning to make sure she was there and to talk to her.
Going through the major intersection, in which cops had stopped traffic, I saw cars full of the hottest boys ever. Pinehurts is home of some PGA golf tournaments and is close to Ft. Bragg so we have preppie golf boys and BA Special Ops boys. Although now I question if I had on Pikermi Goggles, I thought the boys were almost hot enough to quit the race for. But we kept going, Cary’s married so I think it was an easier decision for her.
I guess the hotties gave me quite a boost because I noticed I surged more ahead of Cary than I wanted. Rounding the corner to the finish I slowed down, determined to run in together, Which we did – me at 2:22:13 and her 2:22:14. We both made out goals – I had fun (minus the whole wanting to die thing) and Cary got her sub 2:30.
Woo hoo we’re alive!!
Back in the car with Jamie. For those who dont believe I’m the saltiest sweater ever – look around my eyes!
We stayed around the finish, watched the awards ceremony (they gave out Turkeys to the over all winners!), and headed for the post race meal – Yeungling and Buffalo Chicken Dip. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Turkey to the winners!
Following Snowman’s post race diet!
11/25 Ridgewood Turkey Trot 8k
This was my frist race shorter than 13.1 in forever and I was looking forward to it. I’ll keep this one short! The designated picture taker/cheerleader forgot her camera so I have no pictures anyway. BORING!
This race is always super crowded – about 3,000 people. Amazingly, I found my friend Julie, her sister Katie, and our picture taker/babysitter Shannon without the help of cell phones adn we chatted until the airhorn went off. Last year there was a white chalk line but I saw there was chip timing this year so I calmly waited for the crowd to pass though the start. BIG MISTAKE! The course is a lollipop and the first mile and a half are downhill, the two miles in the lolli are rolling hills, followed by 1.5 uphill. It’s hard to come up with a plan so I ran based on heart rate. Mile 1 was uneventful except for the fast that it’s my fastest documented mile ever – 8:53. I have never seen a sub 9 mm ever…who cares if this was downhill!! Mile 2 was still cruisin at 9:17, as we entered a cute neighborhood with awesome spectators. There’s something so motivating about seeing kids and grandparents out cheering in their pajamas.
The lollipop went in the opposite direction as last year so instead of lots of down hills with a few steep ups, we got a could steep downs with a lot of up. Mile 3 -9:46. The next mile was by far the worst – a long hill and no little ones in PJs slowed me even more to a 10:29. I knew the remainder of the race was up hill so I just tried to maintain. I knew I wasn’t going to PR after the horrible mile 4 and by then my heart rate was up to 181 so I was just trying not to die. Mile 5- 10:01. The course measured Over 5 miles on the USATF website so I’m not sure why they dont call it a 5 miler. However, my time for 5.03 according to Gary the Garmin – 48:40.
After the race I caught up with Shannon and waited for Julie and Katie to roll in. Shannon had been watching Katie’s daughter, who had made her mom a “GO MOM!” sign, but was so busy playing had no interest in cheering for mom. Thats a 4 year-old for you!
As if they just wanted to spoil my race, the timing company, which offers “Real time results” showed my time as 50:36. When I got to my car I was they had texted me the same time. I figured they hadn’t adjusted for chip time vs gun time. I did a race with this company in March in which the chip didn’t activate at the start, resulting in a 3 min time difference and figured there was no way I’d get a dud twice. Guess again!!! I’ve emailed the RD and the timing company asking what I’m doing wrong and asking them to update my time in the results.NO RESPONSE yet.
I’ve done 19 timed races this year with 3 time chip failures….with 2/3 with this company. Considering I’ve only done 2 of their races I’m EXTREMELY unhappy…especially considering there’s a less costly recreational division. ARG! At least I know I can rule out doing the Myrtle Beach Marathon in Feb, because the same company is slated to time that race too. If you see a race timed by “Precision” Race – RUN AWAY AND FIND ANOTHER RACE! They suck!
Jenster's Adventures 