Turkey Trot 5K I had no idea how this race would go, since I hadn't done any sort of 5K training - at all. My brother and his wife would be running, and when I got out of the car I saw Aaron Kennard warming up. Started off pretty fast near the front, and finally settled into a low 6 min pace that felt pretty comfortable for a bit, then the road starts to gradually incline, before making a turn at the one mile mark. 6:37 split for the first mile - not bad, but I knew I certainly wasn't going to be breaking 20 min on this course. Mile two is a mostly gradual uphill, where I passed a fair amount of people, but also felt like I was losing some steam. Mile 2 was 7:10. You make another turn at mile 2 and head down a short steep hill and then run past the park where you will soon return to after running through a neighborhood. Once I hit the park 'trail' I really tried to push it hard and make up for a little bit of time. I could see the clock counting 20:35, 36, 37... I ran hard to cross right around 20:40, so we'll see what the official time actually is. Last year I ran a 21:20 on this course, and my PR for a 5K was 20:50 (on a pancake flat course), so I was pretty please with my time. Chatted with Aaron afterwards, he ran a blistering 16:54 (I think?) and took a very close 2nd place, very cool. He and I then ran a few loops through the neighborhood and around the park to add a couple of cool down miles. Beautifully warm morning (last year it was single digits!) for a fun 5K and a great way to start the Thanksgiving day. Happy Thanksgiving!!
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