Turkey Trot

My training buddies and I decided to run the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot at Clearwater High School. Our decision came Wednesday before we took off for a 5 mile run with the Tampa Bay Runners.

This week at TBR, we did not have Dave to lead us through the course, and given my experience last week, I did not feel comfortable leading the way in the dark. Once again, we lost the course, and wound up running a modified 6 mile track. I understand there are supposed to me markings on the ground to lead the way, but I still haven't been able to locate then. The good news is that we are now a month into the training program and I was able to keep pace with my group, running about 7:25/mile for the six mile loop.

Thursday morning started out as a cool morning, but by the time the race started, it felt quite warm. Despite my best efforts to control my pace for the event, my group and I sprinted off the line to the tune of 6:40. That mile destroyed my plans to maintain a good steady pace. By the end of mile two, I felt terrible and slowed drastically. It took me about 3 miles to begin to feel better and by the end of the run I felt good again, ready to go further. I finished the race in 50:40. I was disappointed by my run, because I failed to follow my plan. This was not a race I planned to run, so I will take this as a learning experience. It is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of a race. I'm confident that I could have run much better if I had stuck with my planned 7:30 pace.

After the run, I enjoyed a nice day with my family. We cooked a non-traditional meal (ribs) and watched football. Unfortunately, the Bronco's made my wife's day and ruined mine. I'll bet that Billy Cundiff is on the Tuna's short list today. He's got no room for a kicker that misses a chip-shot and neither do I. 55 yarders are nice, but you've got to put the easy one's in.