Thundercloud Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5 Miler

I signed up to run the yearly Turkey Trot race. I think this is the 5th time I’ve run it but the first time I’ve gone down there alone. That kind of sucked, but whatever.
The Macmillan Running Calculator thought I should be able to run 5miles at 6min 40 sec pace, so that was the goal I decided upon. The news this morning said 9,000 were signed up for the kids sprint, kids 1miler, 1mile mosey, timed 5Miler and un-timed 5Miler.

I ran a 10 minute warm up, and felt like crud.

By chance, I found Lulu in the crowds and we hung out together before the race. Julie and Pam found us at the start line too. It’s quite a hilly 5miler so this is no walk in the park race. In addition, it’s a family thing, so tons of families spread 5 wide, run/walkers lined up way upfront, dogs on leashes that haven’t run 2 miles in the last 364 days, women with grocery carts (strollers), men pushing extra weights on wheels(strollers), people dressed up as Chilis, Nacho Libre, Turkeys etc…

BANG! the gun goes off.
I never could get my legs/feet to feel light. Almost the entire run they felt like bricks. I also got a side cramp on my left rib cage for most of the run, that would come and go, but mostly stuck around. It sucked. I need to figure out how to get rid of cramps while running. The demons that had left me alone at the Motive ½ Marathon came back in full force. Every bad thought that could mess with me, messed with me. At Mile 2.5’ish I really considered just quitting, then REALLY considered just cutting back and acting like my shoe is untied or I had a hamstring issue till Lulu or Julie showed up, and I’d finish the run with them.

I dug deep, deeper than I’ve dug in a long long time. I haven’t seriously considered quitting since my plan to quit at the Go for the Gold 10K in March got bamboozled when Head Coach Sisson was precisely at the side street I was planning on cutting into and going to my car.
Anyway, I’m kind of glad I kept going. I beat my time (and personal record) from last year by over a minute per mile, and finished with a pace that was 6 seconds faster than MacMillan said I should be able to run it at.

Mile 1 – 6:28 (too fast, not surprising)
Mile 2 – 6:35 (Average of Mile 2 and 3, as I didn’t spot the 3 mile marker)
Mile 3 – 6:35 (Average of Mile 2 and 3, as I didn’t spot the 3 mile marker)
Mile 4 – 6:42
Mile 5 – 6:28 (not bad as it includes the steep ass hill from Red river and 10th to Trinity and 10th)

Last Year : 0:38:28 7:41/mile
This Year : 0:32:52 6:34/mile

Age Group – 15 out of 148. => 10.17% (My goal was inside top 20 but more importantly, top 10%)
Overall – 106 out of 2,246 => 4.7%!! ( I was hoping for a top 100, but more important, inside 5%)

P.S. Incidentally, Greg MacMillan, the man behind the calculator himself now lives in Austin, and he finished 2nd overall running in 26 and ½ mins. That SOB is fast.