Turkey Trot 5k recap

Sorry it's been a minute since I posted!!  I was waiting for my parents to send me pictures of my brother and I running the Turkey Trot 5k last week, but alas...they left their camera at their cabin, so I can't get the pictures until next week.  So...I figured since it's been awhile I would go ahead and write my recap, post the few pictures I took with my phone, and then add theirs in once I get them :)

My brother and I woke up nice and early Thanksgiving morning and headed into Blue Ridge.  Parking was a breeze and there were a ton of people lined up to pick up their race shirts and bib numbers.  We heard the announcer say that over 300 people has signed up early, and there were even more that were signing up that morning!  For a small town like Blue Ridge, that's an amazing turnout!

We did a warm up run to the car to put our shirts away, pin our numbers on, and shed our layers (well...I did...Chris decided to run in his pants since it was cold!)  As we were walking back toward the start we saw our parents and my other brother, Phillip.  We gave them our jackets so we would have easy access to them after the race, did some stretching, and then headed to the start line.

Since this was a run/walk, I'm sure a lot of people didn't know the proper race etiquette that if you're walking, please start toward the back.  I usually get right around the middle.

Ready to go!

The race started about 15 minutes late, but oh well...what can ya do?  I know they were being nice and letting the latecomers get to the starting line, but how can you be late for an 8 a.m. start?  It's not that early! :)  

Chris ready to start running

Finally, the air horn sounded and we were off!  I felt pretty decent at the beginning of the race, and then the cold air got to my lungs.  I felt like I was choking!  I had to do more stops to walk than I would have liked.  My hands and thighs also got pretty cold (I was wearing long shorts and compression sleeves as I had no running pants at the time).  My parents and brother were camped out just after the 1 mile mark, so it was nice to see them there cheering us on.  I kept going with my run/walk method, and when I looped back by my parents and brother, Phillip actually joined me and ran the last mile of the race with me :)  I tried to get him to actually run but he said he didn't think he could do it (I totally think he would have been fine).  We chatted a bit as we ran and walked, and he even pulled ahead of me at the finish line!

I think it should be against the law to put the finish line at the top of a hill!  I pulled through and finished in 37:18...not my best, but certainly not my worse.  Having not run a whole lot and not being properly clothed probably had a little to do with that.  

Love my arm sleeves!

We walked over and grabbed a couple of waters and a granola bar, then found my parents.  They snapped some pictures of Chris and I, then we all headed back to the cabin to get ready for Thanksgiving.

I thought the race was well run and the volunteers were plentiful.  I think my biggest complaint was when we came to the turnaround, people were running on both sides of the road, so those that hadn't made it to the turnaround were dodging those running in the opposite direction.  They should make it two lanes of runners.  I found myself running in the middle of the road until after I got to the turnaround.  Otherwise, a good race that I would do again.

Did you run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving?  How did you do?

Until next time,

Jen