5k North Reading Turkey Trot

I ran my first Turkey Trot!
Before I get into the race, let me tell you, the condition I was in. Two weeks earlier I stubbed my toe on one of my kids toys. It didn't bother me at first, but it woke me up in the middle of the night throbbing. I may of broke it, not sure, didn't go to the doctors. The toe nail became loose, I could deal with the pain, it was minor. So I continued to run.

The day before the race, I felt really good I knew I was going to have a new PR, if nothing made my toe bother me. It was still in rough shape I even stubbed it that night, and was on the ground holding in any scream, because everyone was asleep.

Morning came and it was a bit chilly, I decided to wear shorts and a long sleeve shirt. I also wore a sweatshirt and knit hat for the wait. 7:30 we started to line up the cold was making my toe hurt. This was upsetting because I have started a run while it was hurting. Luckily after the start I never thought about it again.

My plan for my PR was to use runkeeper and set it for cues every minute with a average pace of 7:40. I also use Nike+ but forgot to hit start :(

The race started and i began to run the crowd pushed my back, away from the people I was running with. I pretty much said enough, and just made my way back up weaving side to side. I thought about how much wasted energy I was using.

After I got back up to wear I wanted to be I started focusing on reaching my goal average pace. This was still the first mile and still crowded, but much easier to move. There were kids zig zagging fooling around, making it a little aggravating. I had to stop short once, not the end of the world, but when your on a mission for a PR, it plays a factor.

Mile 2 was my fastest mile I was taken full advantage of the small declines. I started to pick a person to battle. I passed her a few yards back, and she started to pass me. I easily passed her on the declines but she would pass me, when it leveled off. We stayed relatively close.

Mile 3 came and another battle. The previous lady and I passed this older man doing his thing. He just kept his pace, but it wasn't long before he started passing me. We got to a section were people were crossing the street, wear officials were yelling not to cross until you got to the next street. The lady I was battling crossed and she lost me. As for the guy he passed me. Once I made it to the street and crossed the finish line was insight, I did everything I could to keep a pace to keep up with the guy. I have been doing very well turning it up on the last 40 feet, this is what I did and passed him and achieved my PR.

My goal was 23 minutes, my time was 22:41 my fastest mile was 7:14