Happy Thanksgiving! & Turkey Day Race Recap
We are down in CT enjoying a lovely few days with my family. It has been wonderfully relaxing! I'm trying not to think about all the work I'll have waiting for me when I get back. It's always a bit of a bummer when you really pay the price for taking a few days off. But I've been mostly successful keeping that out of my mind and just enjoying the moment here. And we've had lots of lovely moments!
Thursday we all ran our Thanksgiving Day road race! Yay!! We were a bit sad that my brother Ben wasn't able to join us for the race due to work and travel time crunch (and I think he was sad too)... but we were thankful that he was able to join us later in the day.
Race day threatened to be potential frostbite weather, with a temperature hovering around 29-30 degrees at race time, and a wind chill of about 17.
We have a little secret out-of-the-way day care that we park at every year, and although it's about a 10-minute walk to the start line, nobody ever thinks to park there so we're guaranteed a spot even if we arrive late. It also provides us a back way to get out of town afterwards and escape all the post-race traffic. Especially this year with it being so cold, we didn't want to be standing around waiting forever for the race to start, so we didn't bother with arriving early. We parked in our super secret spot around 9:20 (the race started at 10) and just stayed in the warm car and waited until about 9:45. (We all took turns making a dash into the woods rather than waiting in line for disgusting port-a-potties :)
As we were walking to the start line I realized that I was feeling no nerves at all-- I think it was the first time in the history of my running this race that I haven't felt at least a few butterflies beforehand. I was just excited, ready to have fun, and not at all concerned with my time. I knew the race would be crowded and I might not be able to run my fastest... I guess it was like the pressure was off.
(Just to review, this race is 4.7 miles on a hilly course.)
We walked towards the start line, approaching from the front of the pack rather than the back. We passed the start line on the sidewalk, and tried to keep walking back to our proper seed, but just past the starting line we hit a wall of people and we simply could not move any further. The crowd was insane. Spectators, runners, and walkers were all trying to find a place as the announcer gave the five-minute warning. For a brief moment I was afraid of being crushed as I struggled to stay with my dad, brother, and my brother's girlfriend Piper who were all ahead of me. People, especially late-coming runners, were pushing past us violently to try and get in line.
M had already pushed past and gotten in with his "under 35 minutes" seed card. Us slower runners didn't have a seed card to flash so we could get through, so we just joined hands and tried to stay together, suggesting to each other that we just wait until the gun went off and some people cleared out, and then we would try to get under the ropes and start running.
Our strategy worked out perfectly-- the gun went off, and gradually people moved through. Volunteers guarding the ropes saw our race bibs and waved us through the crowd, moving spectators out of the way. We ducked under the ropes and started running, and I think we must have gotten in with the "under 40" seed, because the general pace felt much quicker than when we line up at the back of the pack.
So it really worked out to our advantage, I think, to arrive so late... because we got in with a faster part of the crowd and didn't have to push past too many people. We crossed the start line when the clock read 2:00... usually it's at least 15 minutes before we even cross.
Piper and I started the race together at a comfortable pace. This was her first time running the race and she was unfamiliar with the course. I stuck with her for the first two miles, which are a gradual uphill climb followed by a steep hill in about the last .3 of mile 2. We saw the mile 1 marker and high-fived when we saw that our first mile had been a 10-minute one. Then we started the steep climb up the hill. We talked and joked as we climbed, enjoying being serenaded by the trombone quartet, an accordion player at one point, a bagpipe at another, and plenty of cheering spectators.
Towards the top of the hill I was ready to kick it out so I high-fived Piper, and we wished each other good luck and parted ways. She was smiling and doing an amazing job on that beast of a hill!
I turned on the juice up the rest of the hill and rounded the big hairpin turn where the downhill part of the course begins. I totally missed the mile 2 marker which I know is somewhere around the top of the hill, or just before, so I didn't know what my pace was at that point, but again I didn't really care. It was turning into a really beautiful day-- I couldn't feel the wind at all, I think because there were so many people around. The wall of runners and spectators really blocked everything. I even began to feel a bit hot in all of my layers.
I let gravity take me down the hill and ran on the grass a few times so that I could pass people, but again it was nothing like being at the back of the pack and having such a huge crowd to get by, half of whom are walking by the time you get to the top of the hill.
I had a smile on my face for the rest of the race, I think. My pace felt completely easy and I was just enjoying myself, high-fiving spectators and pumping my fists to the Rocky Theme and Eye of the Tiger playing at different points throughout the course, and cheering at the guys who were ringing a gigantic gong somewhere around mile three.
I didn't notice any of the mile markers until I reached mile 4. I was shocked to see that the clock read just before 42:00 as I passed. My pace felt so easy that up until that point I didn't think I would come in any faster than last year's time of 52:36. But here I was with a chance of finishing in under 50!
The end of this race is the best-- you round a bend and you can see the finish line, and ahead of you is a huge downhill stretch. The road widens and the crowd gets even wilder, and the sun shines down brightly. I gave it a surge down the hill, and in the last 500 feet or so where there is a short uphill to the finish, I kept on sprinting. I crossed the finish just as the clock was turning over 49:00. I raised my hands and cheered! The best part is that all the volunteers and spectators at the finish were just as excited as I was. I got plenty of high fives as I came through the chutes at the end and grabbed a water.
I met up with Piper-- she called me as she came through the finish just two minutes after me! We walked to our designated meeting spot to find our boys. We met up and took a picture.
I chatted with M on our way back to the car and found out that he had completely killed it with a time under 33 (neither of us were sure of our net times because we didn't know exactly when we crossed the start line). But it was pretty certain that M ran under a 7-minute mile!!! WHOA!! Everybody else did really well too. We got in the car, took the back way out, and were home before 12... the earliest we've ever gotten home, I think.
I checked my net time later as the results were posted on the website: 47:45! Woo! And M's time was 32:39!!!
It was a great race day. The girls had a fabulous time watching the Macy's Parade at home. Thanks so much to Grandma and Aunt Beth who watched them while we ran.
More pics of our fun little Thanksgiving vacation to come in the next few days...
Thursday we all ran our Thanksgiving Day road race! Yay!! We were a bit sad that my brother Ben wasn't able to join us for the race due to work and travel time crunch (and I think he was sad too)... but we were thankful that he was able to join us later in the day.
Race day threatened to be potential frostbite weather, with a temperature hovering around 29-30 degrees at race time, and a wind chill of about 17.
 |
| Here we are bundled up and ready to go. I decided not to crop out the Cabbage Patch doll on the floor so you can see what a great time the girls were having. |
As we were walking to the start line I realized that I was feeling no nerves at all-- I think it was the first time in the history of my running this race that I haven't felt at least a few butterflies beforehand. I was just excited, ready to have fun, and not at all concerned with my time. I knew the race would be crowded and I might not be able to run my fastest... I guess it was like the pressure was off.
(Just to review, this race is 4.7 miles on a hilly course.)
We walked towards the start line, approaching from the front of the pack rather than the back. We passed the start line on the sidewalk, and tried to keep walking back to our proper seed, but just past the starting line we hit a wall of people and we simply could not move any further. The crowd was insane. Spectators, runners, and walkers were all trying to find a place as the announcer gave the five-minute warning. For a brief moment I was afraid of being crushed as I struggled to stay with my dad, brother, and my brother's girlfriend Piper who were all ahead of me. People, especially late-coming runners, were pushing past us violently to try and get in line.
M had already pushed past and gotten in with his "under 35 minutes" seed card. Us slower runners didn't have a seed card to flash so we could get through, so we just joined hands and tried to stay together, suggesting to each other that we just wait until the gun went off and some people cleared out, and then we would try to get under the ropes and start running.
Our strategy worked out perfectly-- the gun went off, and gradually people moved through. Volunteers guarding the ropes saw our race bibs and waved us through the crowd, moving spectators out of the way. We ducked under the ropes and started running, and I think we must have gotten in with the "under 40" seed, because the general pace felt much quicker than when we line up at the back of the pack.
So it really worked out to our advantage, I think, to arrive so late... because we got in with a faster part of the crowd and didn't have to push past too many people. We crossed the start line when the clock read 2:00... usually it's at least 15 minutes before we even cross.
Piper and I started the race together at a comfortable pace. This was her first time running the race and she was unfamiliar with the course. I stuck with her for the first two miles, which are a gradual uphill climb followed by a steep hill in about the last .3 of mile 2. We saw the mile 1 marker and high-fived when we saw that our first mile had been a 10-minute one. Then we started the steep climb up the hill. We talked and joked as we climbed, enjoying being serenaded by the trombone quartet, an accordion player at one point, a bagpipe at another, and plenty of cheering spectators.
Towards the top of the hill I was ready to kick it out so I high-fived Piper, and we wished each other good luck and parted ways. She was smiling and doing an amazing job on that beast of a hill!
I turned on the juice up the rest of the hill and rounded the big hairpin turn where the downhill part of the course begins. I totally missed the mile 2 marker which I know is somewhere around the top of the hill, or just before, so I didn't know what my pace was at that point, but again I didn't really care. It was turning into a really beautiful day-- I couldn't feel the wind at all, I think because there were so many people around. The wall of runners and spectators really blocked everything. I even began to feel a bit hot in all of my layers.
I let gravity take me down the hill and ran on the grass a few times so that I could pass people, but again it was nothing like being at the back of the pack and having such a huge crowd to get by, half of whom are walking by the time you get to the top of the hill.
I had a smile on my face for the rest of the race, I think. My pace felt completely easy and I was just enjoying myself, high-fiving spectators and pumping my fists to the Rocky Theme and Eye of the Tiger playing at different points throughout the course, and cheering at the guys who were ringing a gigantic gong somewhere around mile three.
I didn't notice any of the mile markers until I reached mile 4. I was shocked to see that the clock read just before 42:00 as I passed. My pace felt so easy that up until that point I didn't think I would come in any faster than last year's time of 52:36. But here I was with a chance of finishing in under 50!
The end of this race is the best-- you round a bend and you can see the finish line, and ahead of you is a huge downhill stretch. The road widens and the crowd gets even wilder, and the sun shines down brightly. I gave it a surge down the hill, and in the last 500 feet or so where there is a short uphill to the finish, I kept on sprinting. I crossed the finish just as the clock was turning over 49:00. I raised my hands and cheered! The best part is that all the volunteers and spectators at the finish were just as excited as I was. I got plenty of high fives as I came through the chutes at the end and grabbed a water.
I met up with Piper-- she called me as she came through the finish just two minutes after me! We walked to our designated meeting spot to find our boys. We met up and took a picture.
 |
| (photos courtesy of Piper... thanks!!) |
I chatted with M on our way back to the car and found out that he had completely killed it with a time under 33 (neither of us were sure of our net times because we didn't know exactly when we crossed the start line). But it was pretty certain that M ran under a 7-minute mile!!! WHOA!! Everybody else did really well too. We got in the car, took the back way out, and were home before 12... the earliest we've ever gotten home, I think.
I checked my net time later as the results were posted on the website: 47:45! Woo! And M's time was 32:39!!!
It was a great race day. The girls had a fabulous time watching the Macy's Parade at home. Thanks so much to Grandma and Aunt Beth who watched them while we ran.
More pics of our fun little Thanksgiving vacation to come in the next few days...
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