Hello and happy Thanksgiving!
Who else hit up a Turkey Trot this morning? Matt, my brother Steve, and I all ran the Alexandria 5 Mile Turkey Trot – an old favorite of mine!
I first ran this race way back in 2006; at the time, I was just starting to get into running and I remember 5 miles being a REALLY big deal. I think this race was actually the first time I ran 5 miles ever! Thanks to the internet, I know that I ran the 2006 race in 42:57 at an 8:35 min/mile pace. That was FLYING for me back then – I remember it being really really hard! I ran the race again in 2007 and finished in 44:56 for an 8:59 pace.
This year, I was ready to blow those times out of the water! Sometimes I don’t really notice how much faster I’ve gotten because it happened pretty gradually – and then I look back at old race times or re-run an old race and realize how far I’ve really come. Even just the fact that 5 miles is a normal/comfortable distance for me now is awesome.
This morning, I decided to set a goal of sub-40 minutes – that would mean less than 8 minute miles. I figured I just did a 10k race in 8 minute miles, and my half marathon PR is about 8:20 min/miles, so that seemed reasonable and like a good challenge!
And we’re off! It was a gorgeous morning for racing. Sunny and cool.
My legs felt a little tight but overall I felt great this morning! Matt and I stuck together the whole time and I just focused on continuing to push it and stay under 8 minute miles. It was hard but it’s amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it! After each mile, I just kept thinking: “You’re perfectly on pace, just hold on for another mile!”
And guess what? It worked. :) We ended up destroying 40 minutes! A new PR (personal record) – woohoo! According to the official results, we came in at 38:34 with an average pace of 7:43 min/miles! Almost a whole minute/mile faster than my old PR on this course back in 2006. Crazy! In my new age group (F 30-39), I came in 25th out of 672 people. Not too shabby!
Splits:
- Mile 1: 7:38
- Mile 2: 7:34
- Mile 3: 7:42
- Mile 4: 7:46
- Mile 5: 7:35
Yay! I’m so proud of us. As it always is with any race, the second to last mile was the hardest. I just had to keep reminding myself that I was almost there!
You know what’s even more impressive? My brother finished in 32:34, for an average pace of 6:31 min/miles. INSANE, right?! Props to him!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
If you get to hug a guy in a turkey costume than the race is most definitely worth it.
Right?!
Happy Thanksgiving! Way to go on that run. I’m still new to running so even your slow time is flying to me but it’s amazing when you keep at it how much faster you can get. My first official 5k time was 4 minutes faster than what I was running it on the treadmill. I was really happy!
I used to do this race back when it was a lot smaller and you could show up with $10 and 2 cans an hour before the 10am start. I went online this morning to check it out and noticed they got fancy and it was full and started an hour earlier. I know it’s great that races have really taken off and more and more people are running/exercising but I do miss being able to enter most races (marathons included) the day before. Sigh. Geez I sound old LOL! Anyway, great time today!
Well done on the PR!!! I’m totally going to look for a Christmas or Boxing Day run! We don’t have Thanksgiving in Ireland but I wish we did just for the Turkey Trot!!
Great work, Anne — and Matt and Steve! Most impressive times. And congrats on the PR.
I did five miles also this morning…but it was on a treadmill and an easy recovery run after yesterday’s hill repeats.
Congrats on a great race! I ran a 5k Turkey Trot this morning and hit a new PR by a minute! :)
Awesome job!! Way to buckle down on those splits. Isn’t it so much fun to see that type of progress over the years? Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow, impressive time! I ran the Alexandria Turkey Trot today, too, but did it in 56:56. Still I’m proud of that, because I pushed a toddler in a stroller the whole way. :) Happy Thanksgiving!
Congrats on an awesome new PR! I guess we’re all having great racing weeks! Miss you and hugs :)
Congrats! Great job on your PR!
Great work, Anne! I love festive runs like Turkey Trots!
Woo-Hoo!!!!
Kudos to your PR….You guys ROCK!!!!
:-)
wow
Congrats on the super-speedy PR! I hope you had a great holiday.
Congrats on a new PR, Anne! I did an 8-K turkey trot yesterday, and it was nice to see how far I’ve come in terms of my running; I ran the 4-K last year, and I totally killed my old splits (and set an 8-K PR). Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! :)
Ahh I was so close to signing up for this but…I am forcing myself not to run for a full 7 days post Philly Marathon. But…it was such a nice day for it, I’m jealous. Congrats on that awesome pace! I hardly ever “race” these things but…that is certainly inspiring to me!
Awww bummer! I really like racing small races – a million times easier than fighting the crowds to race at big ones! :)
Nice work! Looks like it was a great day to be outside! Not surprised Stephen kicked so much butt ;)
Woo hoo – congrats on a great race and new PR! Such a great way to start Thanksgiving! I wanted to run this race, but headed to my MIL’s house on Wednesday night; instead I ran my own turkey trot 4 miler :)
I’m in Arlington – we should run together sometime!
Nice! Yeah that’d be fun!
Great job on the PR – super fast! :)
Way to go, Anne! Congrats on the PR!!