The Tremonton Turkey Trot is a small town race I decided to give a try on the recommendation of Scott E. It only costs a dollar and that includes a T-shirt and a flat accurate course and age group winners all get turkeys. I Knew I wasn't in PR shape but thought I could run a good time. The weather forecast looked bad and it was raining and windy when we left home. When we arrived at the race, the rain had about stopped. The wind was still there but not as bad. I went for a 2.5 mile warm up and the conditions seemed ok. I had brought tights to wear if the weather was too bad but decided to just go with shorts after the warm up. Just as they were calling people over to start the race, the wind picked up and the rain started really pouring. .8 of the first mile was directly into the wind. The temperature was barely above freezing and after running directly into the driving rain for the first mile, I looked down and my legs were bright red. I finished the first mile in 6:09. Now the rest of the race should have been 1/2 crosswind and half tailwind. The crosswind was better but didn't feel all that great either. I was feeling beat and just couldn't make my legs go any faster. and slowed clear to 6:21 for this mile. The 3rd mile should have been about 1/2 tailwind but the wind was starting to switch from a South to a North wind so there was actually some headwind on this stretch. I finished the 3rd mile in 6:12 and the last .1 in 31 sec. [5:18 pace]. The rain changed to snow and the wind got even worse.
This was a faster course than last weeks and I thought my fitness would be a bit better with another week of training under my belt since the short break I took after SGM. I thought I might be able to take another 20 seconds off my time from last week but was surprised to end up slower even with the bad weather. I felt sluggish during my warm up and really didn't feel strong during the race. I guess it just wasn't my day to run a good time. I did get a turkey for winning my age group so that made it more worthwhile.
I ran another 5 after I got home.
|