United Way Turkey Trot

Turkey Trots are tradition on Thanksgiving. This morning I took part in the Denver United Way Turkey Trot. The weather turned a bit chillier than it has been – 37 degrees today as opposed to the 50s/60s we’ve had all week. I was pleasantly surprised that the race was chip-timed, although the size of the chip was a little ridiculous!

I took yesterday off from running completely, and I didn’t have any great goals for today. As always, huge events like these call out the non-serious runners who gather at the start line and then walk. I didn’t worry too much about pace, but as the race progressed and the crowd thinned, I was glad to be able to pick it up.

M1: 8:22
M2: 7:53
M3: 7:35
M4: 6:59

For the second half of the race, very few people passed me. (Ok, probably few people passed me in the first half, but I only really paid attention as the crowd thinned and I realized they were slowing and I wasn’t). With a third of a mile to go, a girl pulled up next to me, and pulled ahead. Ugh! Then I noticed she kept looking behind her, and I realized I’d been a target. At first I let her go, and then I saw the finish line ahead of us. I turned on the engines and caught up. When she saw me there, I felt her try to push as well, but I kept going and cruised by her. My watch beeped right before I crossed the finish line (4.03 miles by my watch), and I was pleasantly surprised at my time: 30:59 (7:45 pace – same as my buddy Mike ran in the Columbus Turkey Trot!). Sure, it’s two minutes slower than my PR, but I hadn’t been racing.

With my new training plan, I haven’t paid too much attention to heart rate. But I was pretty interested to see that I hit a max of 196 right at the end. My garmin had beeped because it claims that my last 160ft (past the 4 miles, before I hit “stop”) were run at a 4:37 pace. I’m not so sure about that, but it’s fun to think about!

After the race they had plenty of post-race refreshments: brownies, lots of energy drinks, yogurt, water, bagels… and a bud select beer garden! I was concerned initially that this would be like the Denver marathon, where you were expected to be carrying your ID. But they were smart about it, and had volunteers looking up your race registration to find your age. As I approached the volunteer, she smiled at me and said I looked pretty young. I told her I was 31 and she waved me in. I’ll admit, I didn’t have much beer – it wasn’t even 11am, after all, but even a bit of beer tastes great after a run. Carb reloading, you know!

Looking back at my mile splits, I’m pretty happy with how dramatically I increased my pace with each mile. I’m feeling good and strong. My average pace today is my goal pace for the marathon, which sorta intimidates me, and sorta doesn’t. Obviously I don’t intend to be pulling as fast a final quarter race in the marathon. But the fact that my legs and lungs seem increasingly able to push at the end gives me some confidence!

Results:
age group: 22/437
o/a women: 100/2905
o/a: 475/5239