Sprint Thanksgiving Day 5k

Who would have ever thought I (along with my sisters and nephew) would get up on Thanksgiving morning and run 3 miles.  This time last year that was only in my wildest running dream. This year it happened making this my 6th race this year!

Of course I could focus on the negative.  I'm think I've gained about 5lbs, I haven't went out for a training session in weeks. But I won't.  I am still doing better this year than I was last year. So take that negative voice in my head!

I will admit, I was not enthused about this one.

My sister and I spent the night at my parents house so that we could help my mom cook. (FAIL) So not only did we eat TONS of snacks we probably didn't go to bed until close to 2am. 

The race started at 9am and we made it probably about 20 mins before then. Besides the Race for the Cure this was the biggest race I had ever done. Lots of people and the enthusiasm was high which always helps!

Because of the crowd we probably didn't cross the starting line until about 10mins after the gun.  Good thing we opted to pay the extra $2 for the chip. 

As crazy as this is, when we were just passing the starting line there were people making the loop back on their way to finish! Amazing speed!  I think the first person finished in less than 15 mins!

It's always fun to see those people racing back and clapping for them as they dust me. LOL. As competitive as I am, I KNOW my desire is not to win, but to complete and beat my own time.

The crowd remained heavy for about a 1/2 mile. So I'm thinking my time definitely could have been faster if we were able to maneuver through the beginning better.

The first mile came very quickly.  I never look at the route beforehand so I'm usually clueless on where the markers should be or where the heck I'm running. I was surprised that after a few hills and inclines the 2nd mile came very quick as well.  I wasn't tired at all and was ready to push myself to run a little faster to finish the last mile. 

About a quarter in to mile 3 my side started hurting and I had a weird pain in my foot. UGH. Never has happened before.  I told my sister to go ahead a make her time because I was slowing up a bit.  But both pains quickly passed and I was back in there.

My sister usually runs a quicker pace than I do so I begged her to go ahead if she felt like speeding up but she kept saying she was ok actually. So maybe my pace improved to where she runs! 

The last quarter mile seemed long as heck, but maybe it was because we were running faster or that I had mentally checked out since I knew the finish line was near. I wasn't tired at all though.

We finished together at 36:16 and I as I crossed the finish I was thinking "that wasn't bad at all, in fact I almost want to say it was EASY"!

We met up with my nephew (who finished about 5 mins before us) and waited on my other sister to finish (only a few mins after us)

The last two races I got VERY sick to my stomach, but I was ok after this one. I passed on the after race snacks this time and drank a juice. Maybe that is what I need to do going forward.

All in all, it was a very good race and a great way to start the holiday.