Gobble-gobble!

Thanksgiving day started out with the TXU Uptown Turkey Trot 10K race. I'd been looking forward to it all week because all my running buddies said it was a fun race & for the most part, it was. I had my fastest splits to date & finished in 1:33:57. Three of the 6.2 miles were done in under 15 minutes each... something I've never been able to do before. The 1st mile was the fastest, but what amazed me was the fact that mile 6 was only 3 seconds slower! I was VERY happy with that. I switched to a 4:1 walk/run ratio & I really think that's helped increase my speed (I don't tire out as fast as I did when I did 3:1's).

The thing I wasn't happy with was the lack of water on the course. It was in the 70's which meant that I would get dehydrated faster. Things were fine for the 1st half of the race, but as I was in the last 2 or 3 miles, when the sun was getting stronger & the temperatures were getting higher, I came upon the last water station, in desperate need of water, only to find that they were OUT OF WATER! I told myself I only had a little ways to go before the finish & there would be plenty of water there so I'd be fine.

WRONG!!!

As I crossed the finish line I asked the woman who was taking my timing chip off my shoe where the water was. She looked around & said she'd seen people passing out bottles right behind her, but they were gone. I looked around everywhere & there was not a single solitary bottle of water anywhere! I ran into Adrienne & her neighbor, Beth & asked them if they knew where I could get some water because they'd run out on the course & Beth graciously offered up her bottle. I drank almost the whole bottle in one slug. I continued to walk around looking for more water, but there was none. There was however a plethora of coffee & hot chocolate.

What.

the.

FUCK????

Cuz you know, that's exactly what I want after running 6.2 miles in the hot sun... a nice steaming cup of hot chocolate. There was also no shortage of muffins, kolaches, & cinnamon rolls (which were great, but would've been better if I had something to wash them down with that wouldn't scald my mouth!) I finally went into Starbuck's & told the barista my plight & he gave me a big ole cup of water. I could've kissed him.

The other thing that pissed me off about the race was the lack of respect shown by many of the teenage volunteers. After they were done with their duties of passing out water to the runners (when they HAD water to pass out) they were all walking back to the start/finish area. They were taking up the whole street & were playing & rough-housing while there were still runners on the course. I, along with the last few runners had to weave in & around them & dodge their rough playing. One girl almost pushed a guy right into me. Then, as I was almost to the finish, there were even more volunteers & spectators standing & crowding around the finish line. Again I had to weave around them all just to get to the finish line. I never did see my official time because I was concentrating too much on trying to just get to the damn finish line (I later found it online).

When I finished, I should have been celebrating the fact that I'd run faster than I ever had. Instead I was pissed, cranky, & extremely thirsty. I will definitely think twice next year before agreeing to do this race again. For now I just have to remind myself of the good:

• I had my fastest time ever.
• It was great seeing all my running buddies during the course & hearing them cheer me on.
  
• Despite the dehydration, I still felt great during the race.
• I never got tired, sore, or winded during the running portions of the race (another first).
  
• No part of my body really hurt during the race.
• No part of my body really hurt after race.
• No part of my body hurts right now.
  

Splits:

mile 1 - 14:40
mile 2 - 14:53
mile 3 - 15:25 *
mile 4 - 15:25 *
mile 5 - 15:47
mile 6 - 14:43
mile 6.2 - 3:02

* I never did see the 3rd mile marker, so I just split the time from mile 2-4 in 1/2.

Next up... at least 10 miles on Saturday with TNT. The route goes through the Heights, which I've never run before (I was on water stop duty both times before). I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully the rain will stay away long enough for me to finish the run. *crosses fingers*