TURKEY TROT 2015 RACE REPORT
(Posted 2015-11-27 16:34:20 by corey_reichle)

Yesterday, I ran my first, official race.  My official results are here [
http://leonetiming.com/Searchable/2015/TurkeyTrot/ViewResults.php?ID=594067&fname=&lname=REICHLE&city=&state=&division=&sex=&l=0&h=100&bib=
].  Placed 327 out of 616 in my division, 2916 out of 6204 in my gender,
and 6022 overall.  I hit a few PR's during the race:  Most elevation
climbed, and for this month I topped my mileage, duration, and cals burned.
 This particular distance, I hit my second fastest pace, which considering
the errors I made on race day, understandable.  So, I think I did pretty
durned good, all things considered.

Off the bat, the race coordinators and volunteers were all top notch!
 These people are "pros" as far as I'm concerned when it comes to putting a
race together hosting 14,000 people.

We left the house around 6:30, and got downtown around 7AM or so.  Parked
near the Lafayette, and walked a couple blocks to the convention center.
 Buses ready to go to shuttle us to the start line.  Drivers, and people
corralling racers were very nice, friendly, and encouraging.  We got to the
corral at Tacoma and Delaware by 7:30AM.  Thankfully, the weather was warm,
considering the season, so waiting for the horn wasn't too bad.

So, one thing I learned about the Turkey Trot:  pace flags in the corral
aren't adhered to.  At all.  I spent the first 15 minutes of the race
working hard to get around walkers.  Now, don't get me wrong, walkers on
the trot are cool to have there, couldn't get 14,000 registered if it
weren't for them.  But, there was a clear area marked for walkers, and I
was in the middle of the 9 min and 10 min corral.  So, next year I think I
need to position myself closer to the 6 min/mile flags, rather than
starting at my real flag.  I really wish walkers, and even runners, would
honestly place themselves correctly, but it's a fun run, so I'll just "do
as the roman's do" next year.

I think my self-pacing was pretty good.  Most of the spikes you see on
my charts [ https://runkeeper.com/user/coreyr/activity/697411275 ] were
from me sprinting ahead of/around particular groups of walkers.  I spent
most of the run on the sidewalk, which in some parts added an additional
challenge (Avoiding heaved sections).

I was under the impression there were mile markers, I don't know.  I didn't
see any.  Which was fine for me, as I had runkeeper calling off time, pace,
and distance every minute and every half mile.  Just, not as expected.

Regardless, the first mile, while spent sprinting around walkers/slower
runners, went pretty well.  Got into the groove by the end of it, as usual,
but as I discovered later, the ducking took a bunch of my late-race energy,
which I generally use to speed my pace.

Mile 2-3 were pretty harsh.  That was the span from Delaware Park through
Linwood.  200ft of climb, over just more than a mile.  The spectators along
that stretch must have known how rough it is.  There were people handing
out water, on their own, during and after that part.  After that stretch
though:  smooth sailing.  Until Eagle St.

Once I got through Niagara Square, the full wind from the lake,
unobstructed hit me.  I was like,"Dear god!"  Thankfully, two turns later,
and I spot the finish line.

There, I kicked in my sprint, giving it all I had.  I pushed as hard as I
could, kicked it up as hard as I could, and nailed the finish line.  Maybe,
I gave it too much, because once I stopped running, and start walking, I
felt the dry heaves start.  I even put my arms out to the sides, to try and
keep other runners clear of me, so they didn't get an extra surprise at the
end.  Thankfully, I broke out of the finish corral, and off to a clear
area, letting my stomach settle down, and thankfully, I didn't eat much for
breakfast.

After recovered, I doubled back on the track to find my wife.  Found her
about 1/2 mile back, and re-did the end with her, trying to encourage her
to finish, letting her know she's almost there, to just hang in some more.
 She did it too!  Bested her target for 15 min/mile by 45 seconds!

She was pretty done by then, so we just went back to the car, and relaxed a
bit, got our selfies, and headed home to enjoy our turkey with family.

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There is 1 comment on this post:

Comment #1 by 25 Days to Go – Corey Reichle (  ) on 2016-02-17
14:19:50
[...] yet (Got to do that), but from knowing the roads, it's a much more
challenging race than the Buffalo YMCA Turkey Trot (A touch over 8K). So,
the real challenge for me is to PR my 8K [...]


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