Post your 2013 Turkey Trot experiences here

this thread should be renamed as the "Post your 2013 Turkey Trot excuses here

Turkey trots have been supplanted by color runs. No one runs the trot anymore.

There is a Turkey Trot where my parent's live that we all do every year (almost) per 'family tradition.' It was about 23-25 degrees out when the race started, south-southwest wind, and the streets were wet. Is it ice? Snow? Water? Who knows!

I have always envisioned winning a Turkey Trot (and crossing the finish line spinning around and grabbing myself while yelling "gobble-gobble 's!" This never happens though, because usually one (or five) faster people show up. I wanted to run a controlled race, as I am planning to run an xc race two days later.

Got about a mile warm up in as I didn't feel like getting there any earlier. ditched warmups and went to the start line, stood there with everyone else as we listened to race MC (local sportscaster) tell everyone to make sure to have their bib# on the front. The starts are always fun because about 15 little kids like to see what they can do a fast 200m. Splits were 5:47/5:43/5:35 not sure what my finish time was or actual place was overall (6th or 7th?) because when I was finishing I was more concerned with not slipping, plus everyone and their mother was standing in front of the timing clock.

Jogged back to my car and put on warmups and jogged back to the course to see if I could find my mom and tell her to run faster. After finding her I had about 45 minute until awards/results, so I just ran around for a while to stay warm. Got back in time for awards, and it turns out they only gave awards for first in each age group, but did a good job of confusing everyone by reading off the top 3 finishers in each age group. They then pulled the ticket for the winner of the "50/50 raffle" which was won by one of the race organizers. Okay. I am always amazed that they get over a thousand people out there for this. 10+ miles total for the day.

Easily won a small town Trot in 18:15 on a hilly course in cold (~20 degree) weather. It was actually a really fun event except for the lack of competition. Going through the first mile alone out front in 6:00 made for a lonely race. Just tempo'ed it in from there.

53 yr old male.

Ran a local Thanksgiving 5k,about 3 miles from home as usual.

Mile 1- no problem 5:39

Mile 2- slight fatigue - 5:43

Mile 3 - oh Sh#t, 5:55

finish 17:53

Thought I was in 17:30 shape.

Jog home.

Let overweight in-laws and relatives in our house around 2 PM, and listen to them ask me why I don't just run faster and win?

Fat b@stards!!

18:15 is sub-6:00 pace for 5K. Were you going sub-tempo pace in the first mile, then sped up?

Ran 17:44 on a fairly flat course (two seconds off my PR), which was good enough for 3rd in 30 degree, dry weather. The weather didn't bother me too much, until I was sitting around waiting for my award for 40+ minutes while everyone finished.

Ran the last mile the fastest so it felt pretty good- I though I paced myself well and didn't go out in a sprint like all the other scrubs who I eventually passed.

Indoor track started today, excited for the 3200- trying to run 10:25 by the end of the season.

flaglite wrote:

18:15 is sub-6:00 pace for 5K. Were you going sub-tempo pace in the first mile, then sped up?

Yea, I was just out there taking it easy. My PR is significantly faster (around 16 flat) and I was just running for fun and an easy win. Getting back from injury and all, I just decided to go with what felt comfortable.

showed up and expected to cruise to an easy 28 minutes jog win for 5 miles. Saw a guy who just broke 4 last year and he took teh race out hard about 455 straight up hill. I decided to lock up the 2nd place chocolate turkey prize and wimp out.

Former college runner here - first year post-college (low-15's 5K PR).

After trying to stay in shape and chase times over the summer, I finally decided to hang up the flats and just run casually (~40 mpw). I purposely positioned myself in the back of the pack at the start so I couldn't get caught up racing since I just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of the race with some friends. Kept it casual, weaving through the crowd at 6:20 pace, finishing 40th of around 1300. Was a pat to the ego to see that my casual jog in a crowd still puts me in the top 3% of runners, but it definitely was hard to see the leaders disappear knowing that at one point I would have been right up there with them. I miss the racing... not the training or the monk-like lifestyle required for peak performance. Besides, I just drank away the "feels" at the post-race beer party!

Did a 4K team thing. We won the 40-49 division, but not without some struggle. One guy pulled his hamstring and hobbled in over the last K. I ran 14:44, and was expecting low 14s. The weird thing about this event, is that they have a little awards thing, but it's a fundraiser so to claim your $10 gift certificate you have to pay $10 each for the fundraiser.