Thanksgiving morning I participated in the 24th annual Thundercloud Turkey Trot 5 mile race. It’s my first time running it and I liked it. I will definitely
be doing this race again next year! Plus, it was nice to have those “extra” 750 calories for thanksgiving food! Haha!
My
work was having a potluck dinner and I was bringing homemade cranberry
sauce and marshmallow yams. I wasn’t going to have time to cook them
the morning of, so I stayed
up late after work Wednesday to cook them. I then had to decide what
outfit I was going to wear to run in as I had neglected to do that. I
decided on a white tank top with my white pullover with THUMBHOLES!!!
and these new capri tights I had bought at JC
Penney the other day.
The
race didn’t start until 9:30…which is really late. I set my alarm for
6:45, but when it went off, I reset it for like 7:20. I finally got up
and started getting ready.
I didn’t go the day before and buy my usual banana and power bagel
because I really wanted to “save” my calories for the thanksgiving
potluck at work. So, instead, I just had my usual pre-regular-run fuel
which this time was some energy beans by Jelly Belly.
100 calories.
Anyway,
I wanted to make sure I got to the parking areas early enough that I
would be able to score a spot in one of the free lots and avoid paying
$7 to park in the event
center’s parking garage. I succeeded. So, I kicked back my seat and
set the alarm on my phone and dozed until around 9:13. Then I got up,
got everything situated and headed for the starting area. I stopped at
the port-a-potty on the way. When I got to
the starting area, I couldn’t see the actual start line. I didn’t
realize that I was a good at least ¼ mile away from the actual start
line. I had registered for the timed run, but they also offered an
untimed registration. Well, when I FINALLY got near
the start line, I noticed that they had designated the very front for
the people that had registered for the timed run and that I was at the
very waaaaaaaaaay back of the untimed people. Joy. You could tell the
difference in the runners because the timed
people (like me) had blue bibs and the untimed people had green bibs.
Over
21,000 people participated in this race. It is the biggest turkey
trot/thanksgiving race in all of Texas. For the first 2 miles, I weaved
in and out and around and
sideways through hundreds, maybe thousands of people that were walking
and/or running extremely slow. Well, I *WAS* at the back of the UNTIMED
registrants, so what could I honestly expect? It was my own fault. I
know better for next year. Anyway, my first
2 miles were in the 11:30 min/mi range as a result of all the weaving I
had to do. There was also a few good sized hills in mile 2 but I just
powered up them. After that, my time started to get faster with each
mile. I even had a pretty good time for the
mile I decided to stop and get water during. The water stops were
severely congested and unorganized, which is surprising considering how
long this race has been happening. But, I got my 2
less-than-half-filled cups of water and swallowed them quickly…after
I had waited for a good little bit behind other people getting
water…then I took off again and tried to make up the time I had wasted
waiting to get water.
There
wasn’t photographers AT the finish line, but they were at the last turn
that you take before you enter the finisher’s shoot leading up to the
finish line. They had
like 4 photographers. There was no photographers out on the course,
but then, this wasn’t a half marathon so I wasn’t expecting that in the
slightest.
Overall,
I loved this race. I wore a silly turkey hat this year, but I think
next year, I’ll put my hair in a bun and stick a bunch of feathers in it
fanned out like a turkey’s
tail. I will be adding this race to my list of races I plan to do
every year for sure.
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