Monday, November 24, 2008

Race Report -- Nellis AFB Turkey Trot 5k

This morning Tony and I showed up to run the Nellis AFB's Turkey Trot 5k*.

This was my first run of any kind since Silverman so I planned to make it a "fun run." It was fun all right!

I ran a 30:45 which was good enough for 3rd place** in the 40+ age group which meant I won a 15 pound frozen turkey!!!!!!!!

AND I might add 9:53 minute miles!

Being that I was expecting to run between 11 and 12 minute miles for this event I was THRILLED! Perhaps I am really a 10 minute mile girl now?

Or could it be the nice cool weather combined with the nice FLAT course out at Nellis? Whatever it is, I'LL TAKE IT.

It was a small field of runners competing and I started out at a pace I was sure was too fast. Would have been tempted to check my watch at mile marker 1 but I left my watch at home! On purpose. I have been diligent about my recovery and following Coach's instructions to do very little.

When the pace started to feel a bit too fast I just let my mind wander back to Silverman and figured the pace would be what it would be. Worked like a charm!

I wanted to feel good during this run and I did. I did not push hard except for the last few hundred meters when Tony came back to pace me (he finished in 25:xx) and I turned up the heat to finish strong. I was quite surprised to see 30:45 on the clock as I was honestly expecting to see a time somewhere between 33 and 36 minutes.

This tells me that 1) my recovery from Silverman is going well, 2) I really enjoy running (most of the time), 3) the course at Nellis is a good course for me! It was out at Nellis where I set my blistering (for me) 5k PR time of 28:32 back in September.

I am still mostly on recovery and not doing much in the way of exercise but yesterday I went on an 8.25 mile hike out at Lake Mead -- the first part had lots of steep hills. I was feeling it after let me tell ya! Planning on another hike this coming weekend (about 6-7 miles), then back to some semblance of structured workouts starting next week.

Honestly I'm not at all anxious to get back on my bike and I don't miss swimming. LOL!

Hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving week!


*I'm not sure why they had it on a Monday except that most of the runners probably live/work on base so after the race they shower up and just go to to work. Since Tony's and my schedules are flexible we can run over there do the race, have some coffee and then return home.

** I'm pretty sure I was 3rd out of 3. I was not expecting them to award turkeys to the top three winners. When I saw the table full of turkeys I immediately wondered how many were in my AG and thought maybe . . . . . . YES! I got one!

12 comments:

Formulaic said...

Way to go! Nice run and nice award!

Good job out there!

Unknown said...

Great job with the 5k!

...and a turkey, too. Awesome!

Calyx Meredith said...

A podium finish is a podium finish babe! Yay for the under 10 min/mile girl!!!!

Wes said...

That's awesome, Stef! You are defintely a 10 minute girl now.

Anonymous said...

Good job on the run and the recovery. You'll be fired up and ready to go!

Kevin said...

Congrats on a great race and a nice prize

Unknown said...

WooooHOooo! A nice 5K time, an age group finish, and a turkey. What's not to love about that?!?!?

Anonymous said...

Running faster than you expected to AND a turkey to boot!! That's awesome, Stef!! Congrats :-)

KodaFit said...

Very Nice!!

The Stretch Doc said...

Sweet!!! Award!!

Thanks for the update and the great support!

rockon`

ShirleyPerly said...

Isn't running w/o a watch fun? Just run and see what happens :-)

CONGRATS on the awesome award!!!

RBR said...

I am as lame as lame can be! I read that you were moving your blog. I am reasonably smart person, yet I didn't change my Google Reader link (currently my only connection to the outside world) and I kept thinking "Hmm, odd Stef hasn't posted.", "Gosh, Stef sure is quiet.", and "What the hell is up with Stef?!"

Duh!

Anyhoo... AWESOME 5K! Look at us running under 10 min miles!! Who da thunk it?! And you won a turkey!! So cool!

I think you are ready for a marathon, like a Big Sur marathon in April! (I know, I am such a pushy bitch)