Turkey Trot

Yesterday was Thanksgiving & as tradition in this city, I joined a few thousand runners & did the Turkey Trot in the Uptown Galleria area. The weather was awful! The temps had dropped overnight & it was in the low 40's with HUGE gusting winds, making it feel like it was about 30 degrees. My hands & arms were practically numb.

I was supposed to do this race with my best friend, Kelly, but she developed a nasty upper respiratory infection so I went alone. I ran into my TNT teammates, Sandi & Tim, said a quick hello, then went to look for a few other friends (which I never found). While huddled in the starting line, trying to keep warm, I ran into my friends, Adrienne & Julie. They were as miserable as I was & regretting not staying in our warm beds. They were running the 10K but Adrienne decided right there at the starting line to run the 5K with me. It was nice to have someone to talk to during the race. We were freezing our butts off so I ended up running faster than usual just to try to get my body temp up & to finish as fast as I could. My first mile was 12:48! I couldn't believe it! The 2nd mile was about the same. Woo! The last mile was the worst because we were in a headwind. Sweet JEEBUS was that ever c-c-c-cold! Brrrrrrr! When we saw the finish line, we kicked it into high gear. As we crossed the finish line, I looked at my watch & couldn't believe my eyes... I finished in 37:56! WOO-HOOO!!! PR baby!! My last 5k was something like 46 minutes.

I'm really amazed at how much I've progressed these last 6 months. Even Adrienne commented during the race how strong my running has become. I can't wait to see how much more I can improve in the future. Bring on that half marathon! :)