Thanksgiving Fleet Feet 5k Turkey Trot 2010

You know we always do a 5k on Thanksgiving, in the morning before we go get our eatin on and this year would be no exception.  The question was, which one to choose?  Lisa found one in American Fork that with your entrance fee you actually got a hoodie rather than just a t-shirt.  Sold.
Makenzie, the other YW advisor I work with, was gung ho for one, and we wanted to get our girls involved as well.  The more the merrier and WAY more fun! 'dawg also wanted to run it, so several weeks ago, we all got registered.

Watching the weather reports became quite disconcerting though.  It was to be clear without showers of any kind, but the temps were at freezing or below.  And, we all know how I feel about cold weather running. I.Hate.It!

Thursday morning came early and all the YW and Mak met at my house.  I pulled out every one of my beanies, hoodies, leggings, gloves, and earmuffs I could find.  I already warned the girls to dress warm in layers, but I was going to have extra for them.

Put a pot of water on the stove to boil and set out the hot chocolate for something to warm us on the inside before we got going.

l-r  TC,CM,RK,BB,Me, Mak, 'dawg

A quick before picture, and then loaded a couple of cars and off we went.


We found our parking spots and then stood in line to get our packets with the hoodies, the bib numbers and whatever other swag they put in them  (lame this time) and tried to keep warm.  Start time was set for 8am but with the line of people still waiting to get their packets, we knew we were gonna be waiting to start.

We met up with  my Gym rats - Lisa, Kim, Kim and Kris and had some pre-race chatting. 

Kim, Kim, Lis and Me (Kris keeping his usual distance from us)

Lisa was sure to set my Young Women straight.  I love them.  I will be with them every step of the way the rest of their lives, but not in a race.  In a race, they were on their own.  So sad that it's true!

Finally at about 20 minutes after, the horn sounded and off we went.  I had already  lost sight of 'dawg since he had been maneuvering his way to the very start of the line (he's my son), so we kind of trotted until the crowd thinned out.  I settled into a nice little groove and decided the pace I had hit was going to be the pace of the race. 

It was most def COLD.  My lungs and muscles could feel it.  Tibia was feeling pretty good but about 10 minutes into it, my whole left leg ached.  Not where the stress fracture was but up higher where last year's fracture was and then the pain ran down all the way to my foot.  So weird.  And the bottoms of my feet have never recovered since the marathon.  They just feel bruised.  I felt discouraged that even with all the time I had taken off, wearing nothing but ugly crocs to cushion my legs and feet, and now 10 minutes into a good solid run, I hurt.  VERY discouraged.

Little self talk that included the fact that this was just a mere 5k and it wasn't going to cause any permanent damage.  I would finish and then maybe go hit my doc again and see what we can do.  Buckled down and kept the pace.  By now the crowd had thinned and just Mak was at my side, we chatted a little, watched for 'dawg ahead of us, and wondered how the girls were doing.  I knew they would all stay together so I wasn't worried about them.

With a hundred yards left, Mak kicked it into 5th gear and sprinted across, finished a fantastic    time.  I crossed at 28:37 and couldn't have been happier.  I let myself be okay with that time considering how much rest I have been doing and the shape my left leg was in.

Mak quickly headed the course backwards and I stationed myself at the finish line to get pics of the girls as they came across.  It was perfect for finding most of my friends!

K and B - more Gym rats

Lisa and Kris (Kris had already finished but ran back for his cute wife)

My cute Bird - she ran the whole thing and finished in 30 and some change - AWESOME!!

CM who got sick part way through and needed to walk.   She cut across the parking lot but was determined to cross the finish line!

Mak running in KM and TC

I love her smile!!

'dawg had finished WAY before any of us.  In fact, he was 28th overall, and 3rd in his age group.  This all on 3 hours of sleep and not even trying.  I asked him if he noticed his time as he crossed and he didn't even see the clock, he was just glad to be running without anyone screaming at him!

After some phone calls, a sick girl, some walking, we finally got them all rounded up.  Since Kris, 'dawg and myself all placed in our age groups, according to the posted results, we decided to stick around for the prizes.  They also did a drawing of random entrants and gave away a bunch of stuff.

We were amusing ourselves while we waited with the flavored oxygen bar

TC came home with a pumpkin pie. 

Mak came home with a smoothie blender. 

It took a while to go through all of this so we started to get REALLY cold.

And then the crappy thing.  When they got to our age groups, somehow I was no longer 3rd and 'dawg was no longer 3rd.  Wha???  How does that happen when you have no chip timing???  I approached the race director to ask about it and instead of being nice and apologetic about it, he was a jerk, tossed two pies to me and said that it shouldn't have happened and that he didn't have time to figure it out.

Oooookkaaayy........  um.  The pie wasn't the point you dirtbag.  The point was the right to say one had placed.  Not our fault that you were unorganized and screwed it up.  Whatever.  Most def won't be supporting them next time.

By this time we were frozen solid, later than we had told parents we would have their daughters home and so we literally ran to the cars, cranked the heaters and headed home.

Overall, the course was kind of lame since it was just 3.1 miles winding through some empty parking lots.  The swag that was donated and given away in the drawing was good,  but it took too long to get through and no place to keep people warm while waiting.  The prizes for age divisions were Turkeys for first and pies for second and third.  Not bad, except they were all pumpkin.  So, too bad if you don't like that kind.  And the swag was practically non-existent in the bags.
All that being said the hoodies are freaking awesome!  Great quality.  Perfect on sizing.  Warm fleece and the logo is super cute. Well done on that Fleet Foot, but next year, I'll keep my entrance fee closer to home and maybe a better cause.

The most important thing though? The friends I was with.  Granted I didn't get a chance to chat a whole lot with my gym rats, but my Young Women certainly impressed me.  Getting up early, running in the cold.  Sticking it out and finishing!  I am so proud of them!!  And 'dawg is just dang impressive.  Period.

(he had no idea I was watching him.  I zoomed in and caught him in the stance we find him in often)

Thanks girls for stepping up and taking on a hard challenge and finishing.
Thanks Mak for encouraging them and helping to make it happen.
Thanks gym rats for the fun we have EVERY TIME we run something.
Thanks 'dawg for making me proud yet again.