Trotted

Turkey Trot was super fun. Definitely not as cold as I was expecting nor did it rain like the rumors were saying, so I think the 12,000+ participants were happy. I had a great morning, except the ~45 min downtime in between the 10k and 5k standing in sweaty (thus freezing cold) clothes. I brought a change of clothes but didn't think I'd have time to change with all the chaos and getting back to the car blah blah, even though I did (oh well), then I dabbled with running in between to stay warm but didn't... never mind.

My 10k was a pleasant surprise; I PR'd (more on that in a few). The Dana Point Turkey Trot is a fun, flat run around Doheny Beach and Dana Point Harbor, and it seems they finally have it figured out so the whole race isn't just a giant traffic jam. Good amount of out and backs so you can watch all the other runners, you always see some entertaining stuff -- this year there was a Santa and reindeer ensemble of about 8-10 people roped together in uniform, jingling along. Uh, that does not sounds fun for 10k!

My mom was out their running too, and damn she's in the best running shape I've ever seen. Her current 10k PR before yesterday was 50+ minutes, which she shattered yesterday with a 47:xx (7:36 pace). Unbelievable! John was also out there running too and PR'd in the 10k as well as the 5k!

My 10k ended up being a PR too: a 42:48 and a sub-7 average pace, a first. From the get-go the legs were turning over nicely at a ~7:00 min pace. Heart rate was responding well too, and overall I just felt good, so I rolled with it (original goal was more of a 7:15 pace). I ended up negative-splitting into the 6:50s toward the end, and the HR went up a bit, but that still it didn't leave me trashed. Once I knew a sub-43 was possible there was no problem kicking it up a notch. The annoying thing was, when I crossed the finishline my Garmin had me at 6.15 miles or something. So a bit short on the course. Wish it had been a true 6.2. As such, average pace on my Garmin was a 6:59 pace, but the official race results will probably show a faster pace. Regardless, I'm still happy that I had that kind of speed in my legs.

For the 5k, after all that downtime and getting cold then trying to warmup in a jam-packed corral (not possible), my goal was to simply go 7:30s +/- 10 sec. More of a cooldown run with a lower HR. The 5k course ended up being a little long according to my Garmin (3.16 miles), go figure, and I finished in 23:30 or something.

After that we did the kid's 1-mile run. Loved the good vibes of that! Our 5-year-old that we ran with did a 11:55 mile, not too shabby!

Then it was onto the eating (after the post-run nap). Good times x2 :)