This past American Thanksgiving, I joined a bunch of friends & family to run the North Texas Turkey Trot. There was a 1 mile fun run, a 5k & 10k. I knew the 10k was a two lap course, so I opted for the 5k.
Stop looking at me, swan turkey.
And good news, I set a PR!
That Ironman behind me was aghast at my speed!
But this was incredibly frustrating. Why was a PR frustrating? Because the course was short. It was flippin short.
Yay, feet in the air!
I did some comparing of my GPS data to their course map, and I see what had happened…
My detective work.
After the one mile fun run, they forgot to adjust the 5k/10k course to add an out and back. This left us ultimately .15 mile short for the 5k and .3 short for the 10kers. Bummer.
I remember at one point during the race I looked at my watch and saw it was at 2.75 miles. “Time to drop the hammer!”, I told myself. I picked up the pace, only to turn the corner and see the finish line…da fu???
My look of confusion at seeing the finish line so early.
I finished at 20:04. Good for a PR by a minute and a half…But at 2.95 miles instead of 3.1.
“official” finish time
The finish area was pretty funny ~ all the runners were comparing their watches. We knew it was short. So after a few minutes, I decided to run on my own until my watch said 3.1. And I still set a new PR ~21:15! I just wonder what it would’ve been on an actual race course.
Here’s my last three 5k’s:
Sept: 21:33 Oct: 21:34 Nov: 20.04 21:15
As punishment for a short course, I ate his cousin.
In the end, it was still a competition, and the course was the same for everyone. So I’m happy that I finished 5th in my division and 37th overall…out of well over 3,000 runners!
Anyway, after I was done, I went back to cheer for others. Including my parents who were doing the 10k!
Dad headin to the finish.
Warning: Rant Ahead
This race also had a ton of novice runners, which is great, but it also means a bunch of weaving. I REALLY appreciate the fact that they actually had pacing corrals in this race. But most of the newbies saw these as merely suggestions and still worked their way to the front of the starting line.
All the 10kers told me that there was nobody at the 5k/10k split to tell you which way to go, so it was cornfusing, and people kept going the wrong way then had to turn around. That, and when the 10k merged with the slower 5kers on the 2nd lap, it lead to more weaving.
Not only that, but if you look at the course map, I counted 26 turns…in 3.1 miles. How is that possible?!?! Are there no straight roads we could run?
I hope they get better organized for next year.
We snapped a pic while mom was looking up her time.
Anywhoodle, I’m glad several friends won medals. And since I was two spots from the podium, I had to live vicariously through them…
Ann won her 10k division. Pepsi didn’t race, but brought her smile and hat.
And we celebrated at our annual post race tailgate…
Mixing Everclear with Crystal Lite just like the pilgrims did at the first Thanksgiving.
I took the opportunity to make a 6 second video of the festivities…
So in summary, it was a fun time. I just hope they fix the course and get better organized as they go forward.
Peace out suckas!
How bout you? Race on Thanksgiving? Should I count the “official” PR on a short course? Do you tailgate after races?
-Scott
Piratebobcat 