The "Official" Turkey Trot

The church 5K was just a warm up.  The real action was at the Thanksgiving Cross Country Classic... aka the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.  In our 5th year of running it, there were still lots of haybales to hop over and a mud puddle to leap - or run through as I always do.  I think it's the fear of slipping and falling that makes me not even try to leap the mud puddles!  Son wanted to make sure he beat husband.  Daughter came along for moral support. 

First Son came up the hill...

And then my amazing Husband!

It's a race where they run men and women separately.  Men went first and Daughter and I spent the time looking at jogglers, guys in elf suits, and boys wearing turkey hats all run by while we tried to see Husband and Son.  Pretty soon Son came along and not too far behind him was Husband.  The unfortunate part about this whole thing was that there were so many people at the finish that the numbers and times could not be collected quickly enough and there was quite a backup of men.  Which, of course, didn't work out so good for husband, his time was quite skewed from what he thought it should be.  Son didn't care.  All that mattered to him was that he had beat his dad and his grandpa promised him $20 for the feat!  If only I could earn money that easily!

Here I am avoiding the puddles!

Then, the women were off.  There were lots of them running as well and I did manage to start near the front, so it helped me gain position from the start.  I managed to set a PR and come in at 24:07.  Amazing really since I didn't feel like I was in great 5K shape.  Maybe all the extra pilates is showing that it is worth something??  I would LOVE to get a 5K time under 24 minutes, but I am quite happy that I did as well as I did!

No prizes... except for maybe Son who was collecting cash, but I was happy and felt at least a little justified in being able to have a big turkey dinner and a little bit of pie!

November 5K #1

Our church sponsored a Turkey Trot 5K the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Son and I decided that we were going to do it as a warm up to our official Turkey Trot that we would later be doing on Thanksgiving day. 

It was a beautiful day for a run.  It was at a small park and the participants got to run along the running/bike path.  It was a small run as well.  There were a variety of events taking place in town that weekend, inlcuding the end of many soccer seasons and a very large bicycle event in which people from all over the world come to see and participate in.  So, there were only about 35 people total who participated in the run.  Which might be why I came in first overall in the womens and first in my age group!  Son came in first in his as well, though he was quite disappointed in the results since he had been a lot faster at the run in October.  That's what will happen when you don't run for a month Son.  Some lessons are harder to learn than others! 

It was the first, and probably the only time ever, that I was told by someone that I was fast.  And the person had a straight face as well!  For the record, I did PR with a time of 24:12.

We didn't have anyone to take pictures for us and I didn't want to explain the quirky phone on my cell phone to anyone, so here were are in our self portrait to document the moment!

Life happens.

Work.

Cook.

Laundry.

Dishes.

Drive kids places.

Clean bathrooms.

Balance checkbook.

Grocery shop.

Cut coupons.

Youth church activities.

Vaccum

Repeat.

I shouldn't complain, but these are the main reasons that I didn't get the 83 mile challenge completed during the month of October.  I had GREAT intentions, but, as we see, intentions aren't everything.  I need to make more time in my life to run and not feel guilty that the laundry isn't done or that dinner will be late.  Easier said than done.  Add to the mix a weekend in the mountains, a sore throat, and a morning that I slept through my alarm by one whole hour (!), and my grand total was 61.01 miles run. 

November will be better.  Either a new challenge will be issued by Tall Mom, or, I'll continue on and try again for the 83 mile challenge on my own.  I'm off to a good start with November 1st happening and I'm up one 4 mile run! 

And, November brings a couple of fun events... my church is sponsoring a 5K on November 20th - (free!) and then my family always runs in the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot... not free but always lots of fun (think straw bales to leap over and mud puddles to either jump or leap over!)

Our mountain weekend proves that there is fall happening somewhere...
But, also contributed to my not finishing my 83 miles for October!

Here's to a more balanced November!

As the day began, my family found ourselves standing at the start line of the annual Get Moving Tucson 5K and 10 mile run.  The weather was crisp, fall weather, still shorts and t-shirts, but this is the desert we live in.  Any temperature below 80º is crisp and fall!  I was very thankful that it was a good twenty degrees cooler than at the same time last week when I was doing my final long training run. 

Son wasn't too happy to have his picture taken, but I know he was pretty excited to be there.  How?  He got out of bed *willingly*... which is a feat and a half if you take into account the attitude of a 13 year old boy!  He was also pretty excited that it wasn't 100º out, which seemed to be the case for almost every cross country race he was in this fall. 

My friend Ann was also in town visiting this weekend, so, even though she wasn't sure about doing this event, she signed up at the last minute after her kids decided to get up at an insane, predawn time.  I'm even more impressed since she is pregnant, due in April, running on very little sleep, and still turned out to do the 5K.  I'm not sure I would have done the same.

All runners started at the same time, but split off in different directions about a quarter mile into the race.  Philip was out like a bunny and finished in under 20 minutes.  He was 17th overall.  Pretty good for a field of about 400 people!  He was disappointed that they divided winning age groups into five year increments, except for the under 20 crowd, so, his time wasn't all that fast when you're running against college kids, but, if he had been in a normal under 14 age group, prizes would have been going his way!  As you can see from the picture, he and Ann finished in plenty of time to take advantage of the yummy treats at the finish line.  I was still out running.

My goal was to finish in under 1:30.  I did 1:29:11.  Yay for me!  I was exact middle of the pact, eleventh in my age group, nothing special.  It was lots of fun being on a new run though.  We went through lots of warehouse type districts just south of downtown.  I saw some funky brick walls that it would be fun to take photos of my kids in front of someday.  I figured out what the Basket Bridge is after having heard about it for years.  Not only did I run under it, I ran over it as well!  Then, I looked up at one point when I got to the part of the run that was at the turn around of an out and back, and downtown looked SO far away.  It didn't help that my left butt cheek was sore.  Not horribly, but I could feel it with every step I took.  That and I drank too much water before the race and needed a porta potty.  By about mile 7, I had succumbed to the fact that porta pottys were not going to materialize at any point in the last 3 miles, my bum was going to be sore no matter what I did, so I just sucked it up and enjoyed the view and running in the middle of a normally busy street.  Would I do it all again?  Yes... just hopefully this next time I would be smart enough to empty my bladder before I began.  I'll let you know about the bottom soreness... it still is today. 

Finished!

Special thanks to Daughter who came and took pictures and watched Ann's kids while we were off running to fame and glory... or at least some well deserved pastries!

Race day is almost upon us!

I'm excited for tomorrow to happen.  Mostly.

I'm excited because this race is part of a much larger festival that is huge for this city.  I'm excited to be racing in an event with Son.  I'm excited that it's going to be a beautiful morning weather-wise here.  I'm excited that I get to run on streets that will be closed to traffic.  I'm excited to go try some yummy ethnic food after the race. 

I will soon be able to wear my newest t-shirt!

I'm not excited that I have had a sore throat this week.  I'm not excited that I only ran on Thursday morning because that was the first day I actually felt like getting out of bed.  I'm really not excited that my voice sounds like someone who's smoked a pack or two a day for the last 50 years.

Cool socks, but could his bedroom be any messier??

I did take Son to go pick up our bib numbers and shirts today.  Son decided that he would buy some new running socks while we were at the Running Shop today.  I think they look like a fun thing to wear in a race.  I hope he does well! (I hope I finish! GULP!)

My next hot run...

Will have someone running along next to me carrying this.  And if it happens to be next to a beach, all the better!  I got started later than I planned yesterday and it was hot.  Summer hot.  It wasn't so bad when there was shade, but that full force sun was killing me.  Did I mention it was only 8am?  I did manage to get in 9.7 miles (the 10 miler is in a week!), but those last few miles were laced with hallucinations of popcicles, ice cold sodas, and Icees.  I got home to none of that (not even any cold water in the fridge!), so I found some frozen cherries in the freezer.  Heaven.  It was better for me in the long run than the items in my dreams!

My new October total is 13.7 miles. :)

I need to quit finding cute shirts.



I hope someone is getting all of these cute shirts this week!



This has certainly been the week of me seeing cute shirts I want.  My bank account would really be suffering if I had ordered all of them at this point!  So, yes, I am back to tell you about *more* cute shirts.  If you have been getting them all, know that I am really jealous and want to come raid your closet.  I came across Running Chics today... and I really think this belongs in my fall wardrobe.  I would love to have one so much that I even found a blog giveaway for one.  Crossing my fingers that I win!



And, October is off to a great start with 4 sluggish miles run this morning.  Yes, they were horribly sluggish.  I won't even tell you what my pace was.  I prefer to call it "slogging". I then went off and found an 83 mile challenge to do for October.  Only 79 miles left! (It had better cool down LOTS soon!  It was 103ºF yesterday!).  Happy Friday and have a happy running weekend as well!