Turkey Trot 2012

Yesterday was SO MUCH FUN!!! I was so nervous for nothing!  I did not sleep well at all the night before, even with a melatonin! You know what I mean?  The kind of sleep where you know your brain is still on and running in the background?!?  I was nervous on so many levels.  Afraid it would be a competitive (not fun) run, afraid of the unknown terrain and simply afraid I might struggle to finish it … even though I have been running 3 miles (and sometimes more) 3x’s a week!

 I am so DELIGHTED that I ran it! It was so not what I was anxious over, AT ALL!  It was FUN and the group we had made it much more than fun… it is a precious memory I will always treasure! We had a fantastic group of runners….some newer runners, some old runners and some cold turkey runners!!   I finished in 37 minutes and some unknown seconds, I forgot to look!  I was the last one of our group to come in (and believe me I am SO ok with that) and there was something quite special about having almost 20 people cheering for you as you come to the end!  I had to fight back tears!  Even with no desire to “compete” in my times, just to run and finish it felt like such an accomplishment!!  

It was also very fun to have Mrs. Vandenbos there.  She is a much loved piano teacher for quite a few in our group of runners, including Mitchell!  She is a marathon runner, so this 5K was small potatoes for her I’m sure!  She did great and she joined us for our “after” photo!

So many in our group did so well! There was about 200 - 300 people participating and many of our group finished under the 30 minute mark (or just over)and we even had some ribbons that were won!  Mitchell finished nicely under 30 minutes, which was his goal.  Taylor B. won 1^st for her age group, Roscoe P. won 3^rd (I believe it was) for his age group, Titus B. got 3^rd in his age group and my sweet hubby got third for his age group with a 21:01 and 19^th overall.  I am so proud of him! He was in the 30-39 age group but the two that beat him were younger than him!  No one the same age as him or in the next age group up (40-49) finished before him! I keep telling him that he should actually train more over the next few months so when he turns 40 he will be ready to really run!!  He was quite the runner in HS and when we were first married.  He commonly ran his mile in HS in the 4:20’s with his best time being a 4:10!!! He used to finish his 5K’s between 15-16 minutes! The last official race he ran was almost 18 years ago, about a year after we were married, the Frost Bite Foot Race in Anchorage.  This is a race held in downtown Anchorage in JANUARY!  It was in the single digits for temp. and that did not include the wind chill, it was crazy cold!!   It was very special to me to run my first “race” together with Chad and Mitchell.

We finished our adventure off with a delicious feast at the E’s home…. Egg casserole, Quiche, Blueberry pancakes, sausage, fruit, cinnamon rolls, coffee and sweet fellowship!   It was a very special morning on so many levels.  Completing the Turkey Trot  was an awesome milestone for me, but experiencing it with those dear to my heart was the icing on the cake!  I can’t wait to do it again!!

 

 

 

 

 Before the run....

 



 

 

After...

(some don't look any worse for the wear)