Louisville Turkey Trot

As I mentioned in my last post, I randomly signed up for a Turkey Trot 5k in Louisville which took place on Thursday morning. Since I signed up so late, I was not sure whether I wanted to treat it as a race or just as a fun run. I had done a significant hill workout (8x400m hills in 80 seconds each) on Tuesday, and my legs were till a little less than recovered. Then I went out for a 6 mile run the night before.

All told, I got to the race on Thursday morning, tried a few striders to warm up, and realized that my legs felt pretty awful, all told. I decided then that, while I would not take it easy, nor would I put it all out there and race this one.

I picked a spot 10 or so rows back from the front of the pack, knowing that there would be a bottleneck when the course shifted from the road to the bike path, about a quarter mile into the race. I spent that first quarter mile passing a significant portion of the people who started out in front of me, running at what felt like a quick but easily sustainable pace (one stride in, one stride out). My (brand new) Soleus GPS watch said I was moving around a 6 minute mile pace.

From there on, I just concentrated on keeping my form loose and easy, and trying to keep the pace honest. I never felt that I was pushing particularly head, and never in the entire race did my breathing labor.

The course itself was out and back, and quite pretty. It started by the Blue Parrot in downtown Lousiville, took a sharp left after half a block, and entered Louisville's Central Park. After skirting the west edge of the park, it continued south on a dirt path through some open space and the Coal Creek golf course. It briefly entered a residential area before turning around to head back to the starting line.

At this point, it got a little bit tricky. Since I was, apparently in the top 30 or so by this point, I ran into crowds on my way back. This was the inaugural Louisville Turkey Trot, the race organizers were not sure how popular the race would be, and opted to cap it at 2000.  I'm sure they reached that cap, and 2000 people on a narrow bike/walk path leads to some crowded conditions. That's what happens when you make a race free.

Their decision to allow both strollers and dogs, while keeping with the laid-back nature of the race, also added to the crowded conditions. So, coming back I occasionally had to dodge oncoming runners, and at one point had to leap a dog's leash when it ran across the path in front of me.

Par for the course on races like this, and not a bit deal since I was not taking it that seriously.

I did feel the first signs of fatigue at about mile 2.5, which is also when I decided to actually pick up the pace and drop the guy who had been gamely keeping up with me for the past two miles. I felt kind of bad, since it was seeming so easy for me and was obviously a difficult pace for him. But I realized that, with half a mile left, and with the clock ticking near 17 minutes, I had a good shot at my best 5k since my shoulder surgery.

Naturally, I forgot to stop my watch when I crossed the finish line. I had far too much left in me, and kind of ran through the finish line and off to the side (much to the annoyance of the volunteer who had to chase after me to clip my chip off my shoe), and stopped my watch a bit later when it read 18:42. By itself that would have been my best time since my surgery, though I guessed my time was closer to 18:30.

Since I was still feeling pretty good, I then decided to run back along the course for a while til I met my friend (G), who was also running. I ran in with her, and she herself posted a very good time for somebody who hasn't run since the Bolder Boulder in May with 36 minutes flat.

As it turns out, looking at the results on Friday, I had run an 18:25. That's my fastest 5k since my shoulder surgery by 30 seconds, and also puts me at 5:57 mile pace. Considering the only intensity I've done in my training recently came two days before this race, I would say I'm quite happy with that. It does, however, make me wonder what I might be able to do if I genuinely tried in a race.

The next day I spent a good three hours up on Green Mountain, filming myself. I will report more on that later, with clips, but for now I will say that it was quite fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing the results when I get done editing it.