Alan Bennet wrote:
In order to do well at the Turkey Trot, you need to enter a 5K right away.
A better idea would be to run 3 or 4 5k's before your Turkey Trot.
There is a reason teams run races before the "big meet".
You have to learn a good warmup routine.
You have to learn the effort needed to run a properly paced race.
You push yourself at the end of races in a way that you usually can't simulate in practice.
I ran my first 5k this year and I was about a minute and a half slower than I could run last year. I have been doing 10 mile to half marathon trail races most of this year and while I am in great shape for that, I am not in great shape to run a fast 5k. Right now you are in great shape to run a hilly 5 mile loop but not in great shape to run your best 5k.