Turkey Trot Times Two

RUN to race 1.0 miles :)
RUN 5K 27:05
RUN 10K ~57-58 mins, I heard the course was long at 6.7 miles

This was a highlight to Thanksgiving--a back-to-back Turkey Trot! This was new for me, but how hard can it be, right? A grand total of 9.3 miles of racing!

The time between McNot again and the Trots ... hmmm that sounds bad ... Turkey Runs ... so does that ... Turkey Races was spent taking seriously the needed downtime to recover from 2013 and to prepare for 2014. I have one month of rest before I start up again. I'm trying to ignore studying the plan and calendar, avoiding logging anything, and most certainly not pushing myself to do anything I really don't want to do.

So there's some easy runs, one or two swims, a few indoor spins to report. Or not report, as there's nothing to say about them.

One to share is a group run on the L&C trails--I showed up anxious about being late and translated that in to a relatively fast loop of the long trail. It was a good group that probably could have dropped me if they wanted to!

Back to the races. I'd been "off" since the Saturday trail run, mostly traveling and sitting. New York's forecast was low 20's and snow, certainly a change from what I'm used to! The Blerch was telling me it's too cold to run, so I had this nagging temptation to skip out. And my plan to run the 0.9-ish mile to and from the race was almost preempted by  the rental car not wanting to move that morning. As I sat in the car waiting, The Blerch came back, pointing out that it's cold and it's not nice to leave the hubby alone with this problem. I wanted to run, but not be cold! Oh HFTU.

It was a short run to the race, but then just over an hour wait to the start. WU then CD almost. When the 5K did start, huge puffy flakes were falling, backlit by a partly cloudy sky. Migrating birds flew overhead in a V-formation. The wind was blunted in our little pre-gun penguin huddle. A few calm and pretty moments right then. :)

My 5K goal was just run, not race. The crowd of 2000 or so was full of walkers and all paces, and the streets were barely cleared of the 4-6 inches of snow. It wasn't long before the pretty snow turned into a chilly slush that filled my shoes. By mile 2 my toes were numbed, a tendon? was pained in my left foot, and The Blerch was considering skipping the 10K. Aside from a rude pink-cancer-shirt-wearing-runner, the race went great.

I had 12 minutes between races, which I spent with my cold bare feet over a heater. I slipped small sammich baggies over my socks to keep the wind off my toes. Why didn't I do this for the first race?

My initial goal for the 10K, made back in the snowless midwest, was to try for a PR. Not gonna happen here. Although the crowd was much smaller at 450, and overall the field was more competitive, the roads were still slushy and for 1 mile not even cleared. So I aimed for a solid run, good pace, and just enjoying the snow-covered trees, rural roads in the course, the cold air, and the common group-effect of a race like this :)

The day warmed up to 32F by the finish, my toes didn't suffer the 2nd race, and DH came to give me a ride home. I think I'll end 2013 here, with a few more days off and a month of fun running to end on.