I’ve always wanted to do the Turkey Trot in Troy but the thought of fighting the crowds of 600o racers has deterred me.  Last year I did the Cardiac Classic in Schenectady and was going to run it again until this race was announced.  It is in my town so no traveling.

Several of my friends – John, Pat, MaryPat were going to run with me so it would be fun.

I ran 4 times last week in Florida but since there wasn’t much time before or after tennis, I only ran 3 miles.  I also ran 3 miles before work on Tuesday.  I had been increasing my distance to 4 miles during the week & 7-9 on the weekend so vacation has set me back a bit.

I was hoping I would do as well as my last 5k which was under 29 minutes or at least under 30 minutes.

Since this was a first of this race, I had no idea what kind of course it would be and I also knew it would be COLD (cloudy & 28 degrees!) !!! I hate the cold!!!!!!!

So I bundled up with tights, turtleneck, jacket, gloves, headband… and arrived early to register.

unhappy about the cold

Lucky I did get there 45 min early because I was one of the last to register before they closed it.  I was so surprised that close 2000 showed up for a first annual race.

I stayed warm in my car until the race began.

I started up front because I hate to lose time and they were no timing chips.

I must say that I was cold the whole race and my hands were numb even with gloves!!

The course was flat and I felt good the whole race.  I had no idea about my time so I just ran to finish.

I got to the finish line to see 27:12!!1 I was so happy!! There was a crowd at the end and I couldn’t figure out where to go so I just stood there.  Finally they pointed to an outside lane.  I have no idea if I crossed the finish line and what time it recorded.

(Official time listed as 27:30 ! BUT “Due to the overwhelming response to this event, and the inexperience and confusion of many of the finishers with a multiple chute scoring system, the results beyond the 500th position are not available.”) Interesting? 

But I have a PR!!! YAY!  Extra dessert for me today!

I hung around waiting for my friends Pat & John to cross.  Pat has just returned to running and I’m so happy! They finished close to 40 min but I ran with them encouraging Pat across the finish line!!

I hung around with some other avid 5k racers I know.  One woman who is 60 has run 25 races and won her AG in 20 – she’s an addict like me.

They gave out trophies to the lst place in each 10 year age group.  The winner in my AG finished in 23 min – DARN! I thought I had a chance since the elites were at the Troy race.

After the race, I went home to relax.  I am not cooking this year!!!!!!!!!!  Me & my hubby are going out to a friend’s for dinner and then stopping off at his mom’s for dessert.

Happy Running and Happy Thanksgiving!

me starting my virtual race

I got up, took my blood pressure and it was perfect so I decided I would run yesterday’s race – at least the 5k.  Unfortunately it was raining. Anyway, my hubby said that I was nuts and he wasn’t gonna pick me up off the pavment.

When it did stop in the afternoon, my hubby left to play tennis & I set out on my virtual race (wearing the race shirt)  & to the drug store to pick up 2 prescriptions.

I guessed that to the pharmacy & back would be a 10k. Actually it was 3.5 miles so I ended up doing 7 miles.

Stats:

lst 5k – 31:20
2nd 5k – 34:55
10K – 1:06:15
7 miles – 1:15:56

As you can tell, I ran the first 5k and walked a lot during the 2nd.  I didn’t stop the clock waiting for lights to cross streets but did stop for 10 minutes in CVS (and stopped the clock).

Still sad that I missed the opportunity to run a 10k…I probably shouldn’t have waited so long since the running season is limited from now til next spring.

Happy Running! Hope everyone had a good racing weekend!

This race was a first for me.  I had originally planned & registered for the Falling Leaves 5k in Ballston Spa (where I won my age group last year).  But my 2 friends wanted to go to the UAlbany reunion activities so this fit better into the day.

I play tennis here all summer but I’ve never run here.  I did hear that Perimeter Rd is quite hilly but I hoped this course would be flat.

It turned out to be a perfect running day – sunshine and cool temps.  In fact, it was chilly when I arrived.

There was a pretty small crowd – about 120  – mostly college students with a few ARE runners mixed in.  I decided to run without my jacket because I knew I would be warm and I was right.

I was wrong about it being flat. In fact, the course consisted of one hill after another.  It never ended. Part of it was a trail run along the pond.  It was pretty but exhausting.

There were no mile markers so I may have run the first 2 miles too fast but by the last hill, I had to walk.  This of course, wrecked my time & I finished at 30:28.

This was not a PR but not bad for this HILLY course.  They gave out awards for the 1st place in each age group and I was 2nd.  I think you got a cookie & a dog bone on a string (Great Dane is the school mascot). No great loss there!

My college friends did not arrive  for a while so I waited and relaxed.

The rest of the day was spent reminiscing and chatting.  We toured the campus and took some pics.

check out the rainbow

Eventually, I went home to change and met everyone at a restaurant for dinner before we headed back to campus to listen to Barbara Walters.

Barbara Walters was very interesting!!! Afterwards, we headed to Starbucks to continue the evening…

Happy Running!  Hope you had a good day!