This Thanksgiving I ran my first organized Turkey Trot. It seems everybody and their mom (literally) runs these races Thanksgiving morning so it's about time, right? I was offered to run the annual Y of Central Maryland Towson Turkey Trot Charity 5K by KIND Snacks, who were one of the sponsors of the race.
I had such a great time running the Fiesta 5K with KIND Snacks in the spring and had wanted to run a Turkey Trot this year so it was a no brainer.
It was quite a chilly morning in Towson on Thanksgiving Day. I woke up, ate a banana with peanut butter, had some Nuun Energy Lemon-Lime, and got ready to go. I bundled up with my favorite Under Armour ColdGear tights and longsleeve shirt under my KIND shirt.
While I'm not the one to have a Turkey costume lying around, I wanted to wear something fun. I pulled out my sparkly lime skirt I wore during Hood to Coast which matched perfectly!
(The skirt is from ChasethisSkirt, fyi).
I showed up at the start ready to go since I had picked up my packet the day before. Packet pickup had been quick and smooth at the Y of MD where the race started and finished. We got a fun shirt and a couple peanut butter dark chocolate KIND Bars along with the usual flyers. Yeah, those bars didn't last very long.
Instead of stretching I spent most of the pre-race time trying to stay warm. After meeting up with Theo who was also running for KIND, we headed to the start line. It was a large race with lots of families and kids so it was hard to get to the front and no one was really lining up by pace. I know it's not a serious race, but that still really frustrated me. The first half of a mile was really crowded which meant a lot of weaving in and out of runners. After a mile it was too hard to try to stay with Theo so I just went and did my own thing.
The course was a loop that mostly went through residential areas in Towson and had many more hills than I expected. I ran the first mile faster and then tried to settle into a slightly slower pace since I had no expectations for this race. I didn't run with any music and just tried to focus on keeping a steady pace. Racing in the cold also feels really different because my feet and legs are a little frozen and numb when I start running which is a different sensation.
I haven't been consistently running since Chicago a little over a month ago and I could feel it-yikes! It was definitely a reminder that I need to start doing some speedwork again.
It was a fun race with even a few spectators who came out of their houses to cheer runners on in the cold. My favorites were a family who set up a little mimosa stand around 2 miles into the race. Kudos to them!
Like most 5K races, this one flew by. For the last 0.5 mile I pushed it and came down the last stretch towards the finish line.
I ended up finishing in 23:06, with an average pace of 7:27 mi. Not my fastest, but still a respectable time and good enough for 8th in my age group and 96/1200 runners.
I ate a delicious dark chocolate sea salt KIND bar, snapped a few photos, and chatted with Theo and Jenna who ran the race for KIND as well.
Granted I didn't walk around much, but I didn't see any other post-race food besides water so people were definitely gobbling up delicious KIND bars left and right!
Afterwards I hopped right into the car and headed up North to my parents' house for a relaxing Thanksgiving. There was good times had with family, plenty of delicious food, and multiple slices of pie! Dessert is my favorite so I had to try all three- pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pumpkin cheesecake!
Getting in a run while raising money for charity was a great way to start my Thanksgiving.
I loved this reminder from KIND on their Facebook page Thanksgiving because it describes perfectly how I felt about the day!
Not going to lie, I KIND of wish I had agreed to run this with you guys. (Pun intended. I'll probably get in trouble for this comment later.) Maybe next year I'll feel up to a turkey trot... maybe. But until then, I need to start signing up for races. We need to collaborate again since I forget which ones you're doing already.
ReplyDeletehaha so punny :)
DeleteNice job! I haven't done a Turkey Trot but I really want to, they look like such a great time! Very cool to be there with KIND, I love their bars...they are so good!
ReplyDeleteTheir bars are delicious-it was a great way to start off my holiday morning!
DeleteSounds like a fun run! Great time. I am sure you warmed ip pretty quickly while running that pace. I did not run a turkey trot since it snowed where I was but I did go on the treadmill before dinner. -L
ReplyDeleteOh goodness I'm sure the snow was messy! I ran on the treadmill last year too.
DeleteSounds like a good race! I did a 10k in Bethesda a few years ago on Thanksgiving. It was fun, but hilly and kind of a far drive from Baltimore.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
I wouldn't drive far for one, but I'm lucky this worked out for me!
DeleteWe have a great local 10k Turkey Trot that I have missed the last two years because we've been doing Thanksgiving week at Disney (pretty good excuse!). That sounds like a pretty fun one, though. Thanks for linking up with us today!
ReplyDeleteThe holidays at Disney sound AMAZING!
DeleteWe have a huge Turkey Trot right near our house that we run most years. This year my older son ran part of it with me, which was awesome. But I was disappointed because they ran out of water this year and we were far from the back.
ReplyDeleteRunning out of water sucks! That's awesome you ran with your son!
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