Turkey Trots

My annual (for at least the past 4 or 5 years) Thanksgiving tradition has been for my parents to drive me (and for the past 3 years) and my friend to Troy, NY, to run a turkey trot. In the past I have run the 10k, each year getting a little faster. This year I decided to run both the 5k and the 10k since they are run separately, the 5k first. This year the 5k had over 4000 participants, all of whom did not really fit on the streets of downtown Troy. This led to a 5k race with similiar congestion of the Chicago Marathon. The 10k is much nicer though, since it is mostly the "serious" racers running. My 5k wasn't all that fast since my friend and I spent a lot of time dodging people who lined up in the wrong finishing time. However, my 10k went a lot better. I somehow ran the first mile in around 8 minutes, and then it occurred to me that I might be able to run a sub-50 minute 10k for the first time ever. I don't know why I never did in the past, but this year I decided I was going to. I figured I ran a 1:52 half-marathon at the end of the Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June so I shouldn't be running this 10k in more than 51 minutes. And so I talked positively to myself and thought of all the people I know who inspire me to be faster. And you know what, it worked!

5k - 24:57
8:02.9 min/mile

10k - 49:16
7:56.77 min/mile

Morale of the story? Don't train so much? I PRed this 10k after not having run that much these last few months and I PRed the half-iron distance aquabike in September after not having biked that much. I don't really know if that correlates, or if it was really my focus and concentration that I put into the events and did not let myself get distracted. There was nothing at stake for me today or in September. So maybe the actual morale is to be calm, be focused, and be positive!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and ate lots! I sure did!