Turkey Trot 5K Recap!

I know what you are thinking! A Turkey Trot in October? Seems early! Well...I run this race every year because of that fact. Because every registration buys a Thanksgiving turkey for a local family in need. So I'm ok with it being early!

This race is also one that the cub scouts participate in. So we always do it as a family! This year was no exception!

Funny story....my husband was in charge of registering all of us for the race since he is a cub scout den leader. Well...he got us all registered but our shirt sizes were a different story. Sawyer's shirt was a little snug but it worked. MY shirt however....was super big! He ordered me a size LARGE!!! Lol! I'm not sure what he was thinking! And now I can't stop picking on him about it!

This race is always very family oriented. They had several vendors out there with games for the kids. And Piggly Wiggly even had Mr. Pig there!

Donna rode to the race with us. My boys kept her quite entertained! We both bought the same skirt last weekend at the half marathon packet pickup so we decided to wear it to this race! Don't we look cute?!!

My goal for this race was to try and PR my 5K time. I also hoped I would place like I did last year. Because this race isn't bib timed I lined up as close as I could to the start line but not too close so I wouldn't get trampled. I heard two runners in front of me talking about keeping an 8 minute pace so I knew I was lined up in the correct spot.

As I was waiting for the start I realized I hadn't turned on my Garmin. It is usually super fast about finding the satellites but that morning it was having a hard time. The gun went off before my Garmin was ready. But what can you do? I started running hoping it would catch up. And I had RunKeeper going on my phone so I knew I had a backup.

I knew immediately when I started running that I was going to have a good run. My legs were feeling strong. I had that floating on air feeling. It was making me very happy! When I ran mile 1 in the 7's I was super shocked! Had I really just run that fast? And could I keep that pace for two more miles? I didn't know but I was going to try. I was in a groove so there was no slowing down.

There were several hilly parts of the course but I got through them fine. The course was different than last year but still downtown in one of my favorite areas to run.

Before I knew it I had made it halfway and to the turn around point. Headed back I saw several of my Sole2Soul Sisters and that was fun!

Mile 2 came and then it wasn't long and I could see the finish line. But since it was a straight shot there I knew it wasn't super close. I was still running fast and in the 7's. But I was getting tired. I wouldn't let myself slow down. I was too close.

Near the finish line I saw one of my favorite photographers Tim! He snapped pictures of me and said, "Fast!"

That gave me the extra push I needed! I sprinted to the finish line! Right before crossing I heard and saw Sawyer cheering for me! Love my sweet boy!!! :-)

I had done it! I PRed with a time of 23:27!!!!

The only issue I had was my Garmin said the mileage was 3.00. Now I'm not sure if that was because the satellites didn't come on until after I started. Or if the course was a little short. Either way...I still would have PRed regardless!

After crossing I headed toward Sawyer and also found Hayden and Andy. We walked around a bit and the boys played some games. Then we found Donna. We still had a few minutes until the fun run would start.

Another awesome picture by Tim!

Andy was supposed to do the fun run with us. But he could barely walk. He got hit in the leg by a softball last week at his softball game and he was in pain. So he decided to not risk it. I knew Hayden wanted to run since he has been doing the running club at school. But Sawyer wanted to run and walk. Sweet Donna offered to run/walk with Sawyer so I could stay with Hayden in case he wanted to run.

We lined up to start and took off! Hayden did so awesome during the fun run! It was a mile long. We walked a few times and ran a few times. He loved it! He finished in about 14 minutes. Then we waited to see Sawyer and Donna come in. They weren't that far behind us. And as soon as Sawyer saw the finish line he took off!!!!!

After the fun run it was time for the awards. I had no clue if I'd placed or not because I couldn't find the posted race times. So when they called my name for 2nd place in my age group I was so thrilled!!!

I received a medal and a water bottle!

I was so happy! It was another great time at the Turkey Trot! I remember how last year at this race my calf strain had just started. I was so thankful to be running injury free this year!

Of course I'll be back to run this one again next year!!!

QOTD: Have you ever run a race where your Garmin was off? Or a course that was too short?

Turkey Trot Fun Run!

Thanks so much for all the encouraging words on yesterday's post! I had a great run yesterday morning! My knee didn't hurt at all during the run and the hip was just a little tight. I go back to Dr. Justin this afternoon and hopefully he will continue to let me run! :-)

This past Saturday I was supposed to run the Turkey Trot 5K here in town. The main reason I signed up for this race was because my sons' Cub Scout pack was having all the boys and their families sign up. I signed the boys and Andy up for the fun run and signed myself up for the 5K. At the time I wasn't injured.

Several people asked why it is called the Turkey Trot and is in October. Well this race is for the Prodisee Pantry. They use the funds to buy turkey dinners for families in need for Thanksgiving. So they hold the race early so those families will have their turkey dinners. It's really an awesome cause!

We woke up Saturday morning to gorgeous weather! It was cold outside...in the 40's! That is perfect running weather and I was itching to run! But I made the decision to only do the fun run since my knee was hurting.

I was so excited because Hayden was going to do the flag ceremony with Cub Scouts before the race! He carried the flag out, all the runners said the pledge of allegiance, and then Hayden carried the flag away. I was soooo proud of him!

Then we got to see the runners take off! It was really cool being on the sidelines and watching the start of the race from that point of view!

We had about an hour before the fun run started so we walked around trying to stay warm. This race had a ton of vendors set up so we went and checked them out before we headed to the start line.

And of course we got a family picture! I loved seeing us all with race numbers on!!!

 Finally it was time to head to the start line. We were one of the first to get there. The boys were excited about the start line!!!

We were ready to run...and walk! ;-)

The gun went off and we all started running! After about 30 seconds the boys were ready to walk lol! It went that way the rest of the mile. But we were having fun anyway. Andy and Hayden kept trying to beat each other. Hayden didn't want Andy getting in front of him so he would run ahead. It was fun watching them have so much fun! Sawyer had fun too....until he fell. :-( He didn't hurt anything but the tears started flowing. Finally I got his mind off of it and he started running again. It didn't take long and we saw the finish line. Sawyer shot off and beat us all! He was so proud that he had "beat the whole family!!!" I LOVED seeing and hearing his excitement! We all got ribbons for finishing the fun run. The boys were super proud...and I was super proud of them!

It was a blast doing this with the family! I hope we will run many more fun runs together in our future!

QOTD: Do you and your family race together?