Turkey Trot 8k Race Results

It's just not thanksgiving until the turkey trot is run. I was a little bummed as my nephew who has beaten me every time we've done the same race was not going to make it. I was ready to kick his butt this time. I've PR'd all my short course distances this year and the legs have been feeling good. The last race we did was a 5k back in July and he beat me by only 3 seconds. I ran this same race the last 2 years and I know the course well. It's hilly and hard with a tough climb on the last mile. I had entertained the thought of breaking 40, but then remembered how hilly it was and changed my goal to 41.
First up was the 1 mile fun run. Lined up with the girl, her two cousins ( 9 and 13 ), and her grandma and grandpa. When the gun went we all took off. I was just going to use this as a warmup and since I love to run with the girl was quite happy to do it. She ended up with a 13:10 which was a 40 second PR for her for the mile. She did much better this race than the last on Halloween too. I was so proud, especially of her finishing kick :-).
After we finished, I had 15 minutes to get ready for my race. I needed to use the facilities and they were about a 1/4 mile away so I ran over, got in line, and ran back with 2 minutes to spare. I was looking for Cindy and Frank, figured they were in line already and close to the front, so I squeezed in and tried to work my way forward. Didn't get very far, but I did see Eric W. ahead and new I had a good carrot to chase.
Mile 1. 7:56 - planned to run this about 8, so right on target. I was a bit too far back at the start, so I was weaving in and out to get a better position. I kept thinking I was going to pass Cindy and Frank as I thought they must be ahead of me, but I guess they ended up behind. Felt really good at the marker but knew that 2 and 3 were the toughest miles, so eased up a bit.
Mile 2. 8:24 - This is a hard mile and I felt really good about that pace. Jordan H, passed me here, he is the son of a good friend of mine and a freshman in college, I thought he was running well as he was able to talk to me as he flew by.
Mile 3. 8:26 - I saw Eric ahead at a turn around point here and he was still about the same distance ahead, I thought I might be able to catch him on the downhill of mile 4 but this was another tough mile. I picked up a few pacers here and was able to keep a good solid pace on the hills. At this point I was trying to do math to figure out what I needed to do to get my 41 and I figured an 8 for the next mile which is mostly downhill would leave me an 8:15 on the last mile to shoot for.
Mile 4. 8:02 - right on target, I was leap frogging now with a couple people but still feeling really good, even though I just ran an 8 minute mile it was mostly downhill and I was able to recover so my confidence was high that I could make the 8:15 for the last mile.
Mile 5. 7:53 - This mile starts with a tough uphill, before rolling to the finish. At the top of the hill I caught Jordan again, he looked like I felt, said hey and he said he was going to run with me for the last mile. I said cool, but I wouldn't be able to talk as I was in extreme pain. When we were about a quarter mile left I looked at my watch and knew I had to give it all I had left to make the 41 so I left him and started passing people. I made it to the final turn and heard my coach yelling for me, and the surprised tone of seeing me this early, I told her I was going for 41 but she thought low 42's was where I would end up, then I saw the finish line clock which said 40:40 and sprinted with all I had left to cross the line at 40:59. My watch time was 40:39 so I was super psyched and ready to die all at the same time. Jordan crossed right behind me so I congratulated him on his race and set off for some water.
This was a great race for me and I'm really excited about the half marathon I have coming up on the 5th of December. I am hoping I can finally break 2 hours for the half, and then take the rest of the year off before starting all over again next year.