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| Grand Strand Turkey Trot 8K Course |
I was really looking forward to running this race again. On a whim I decided to run it last year. In fact I had not really planned to. I knew there was a race in Market Common, a fairly new shopping area near the old Air Force base in Myrtle Beach, but really didn’t plan to run it. I kind of knew that no one else in the family would be jazzed about getting up early to go and I felt bad for leaving on a holiday morning. But when I decided that morning to head to the beach to run anyway, I got in the car and figured, hey I could make it over to Market Common and just run the Turkey Trot. So I did. And I came in 3rd overall! My times this year in 5Ks were certainly faster so I was excited to see how much better I could do. This time I let everyone know I was running it and I registered ahead of time so I could get a shirt that actually fit instead of the XL one I got last year. I said that no one had to come but that I’d be running it and would be back as soon as I could. But since Owen wanted to also run and Deb was coming for Thanksgiving too, Deb and Keith came too, along with Owen, who registered for the 1 mile.
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| Owen not feeling very photogenic before the race |
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| Deb hoping this is the only time she sees this stretcher. LOL! |
We got there with more time to spare than we really needed and it was pretty chilly out so we hung around in the community center building for a bit. We eventually asked about the 1 mile course and found out to our surprise it was not starting where the 8K starts, but actually starting back over where the 8K finishes! Good thing we asked because we had little time to get over there. Deb said she’d run the 1 mi with Owen so they lined up for the start while Keith and I cheered them on. I waited until Owen and Deb finished before heading back over to the 8K start. Owen did a great job, running his fastest 1 mile ever in around 10:30. I bet he can go even faster next time, the key for sure was him having to do it without me to complain to along the way I think, that and he was getting a big kick out of being in front of Deb so that encouraged him to keep going. Nothing like beating your nice Aunt who was kind enough to run with you huh?
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| Owen sprinting to the finish! |
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| Owen and his race "bling" with Aunt Deb and me |
Owen was all smiles now after his great finish. Deb did well but probably vowed never to run with Owen again. I headed over to the 8K start and they announced a 10 minute delay. Grrrr! Well at least this allowed time for another potty stop. I line up at the front and saw a few other fast-ish women and guys up there too but it’s hard to know who is doing the 5K and the 8K because they start together and then eventually branch off. As I took off I tried to remember not to go out too fast like in the Triangle Expressway Trot less than a week ago. I just ran my pace, a bit faster than the goal pace of 6:35 or 6:40 and just ignored the fact that there were a few women ahead of me. I hoped that most were doing the 5K anyway. The first mile felt stupid easy. I had to slow myself down and felt that I was jogging along. Very strange feeling indeed. Probably due to the cool weather, the extreme flatness, and the high from PRing the weekend before. Still I knew it wouldn’t last so I had better slow down and settle into a pace I could keep for 5 miles.
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| Me in the purple tank and black Zensah socks, near the start |
Mile 2, hello headwind. This was a challenging mile for sure. I believe in mile 2 is when you split from the 5K and as suspected many folks were doing the 5K so turned right when I turned left. I wasn’t 100% sure but pretty sure there was probably at least 1 woman who was doing the 8K ahead of me. I ran up the main road in Market Common, Farrow Parkway, knowing that this part was the tough part last time for me. It’s the part of the course where you get to 3 miles and then turn around so you can see everyone behind you and ahead of you, again a blessing and a curse. I felt pretty tired but was determined to maintain my pace for the next 2 or so miles. Once I approached the turnaround point, I did confirm that one of the women on the starting like who looked speedy was in fact ahead of me. She was older than me for sure, and likely was one of those local front runners. She was far enough ahead that it would not be really doable to catch her, so I settled in to second place and just focused on pace. The woman behind me in 3rd was also far enough behind me that she’d likely not catch me, so just keeping steady was the key.
I thought about the turkey dinner that was coming soon as well as getting some chai tea at Starbucks when I was done. Soon I reached the lake that I knew was around the 4 mile mark so just a bit less than 1 mile to go. You can actually see the finish on the other side of the lake which is somewhat comforting but still a long way to go, especially having to weave through the 5Kers who remerge with the 8K at this point. I did a few “on your lefts” and got some bewildered looks. Guess most folks running a 5K at the pace I run an 8K at are not everyday runners who know what “on your left” means. But I gave it everything I had to get to the finish and ended up with a time of 32:17. A whole lot better than my 35 or so time from last year.
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| After the race |
Keith, Owen and Deb were there at the finish. It was funny because Owen mentioned that I’d be upset or that it took me so long or something and I was like “no, this was a great time Owen, way better than last time!”. My pace was under 6:30 which was much better than I’d planned. Then he spilled the beans to say that daddy thought I’d be upset because he had calculated my pace and figured I’d finish in under 29 or 30 minutes. Of course he used my 5K pace for that. I explained that if I could run an 8K at that pace, then my pace for the 5K would be faster.
They all headed back for breakfast and I stayed for awards, wasn’t making that mistake again! As it turned out, my time was correct but the results posted on site said I was 3rd! What the heck!? I didn’t even notice at first since I was just checking to be sure my time was right. I took a picture of the results but then looked at it again and realized something was not right. I saw that a male (Matt) and female (Chris) with the same last name were listed as having come in at the exact same time, ahead of me and a few other folks who were up front. That was certainly not the case, there was no couple running at breakneck speed who romantically held hands and crossed the finish together, no way. Just as I was going to the timing booth to mention this, a few other guys were also doing the same. Turns out that this guy and his wife were supposed to run the 8K but decided last minute to do the 5K instead….with the 8K chip of course since they didn’t realize this would be an issue. So they fixed that plus some other errors (they had the overall winner as the female, so completely missed the first place guy entirely). This and the fiasco the week before has opened my eyes to how often errors can occur, so I will certainly be watching this more closely from now on!
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| Race Bling |
As was the prize last year, this year was another painted tile with the turkey trot logo on it. I now had a 3rd and 2nd place tile. Just a few hundred more and I could redo our bathroom shower…bet Keith would LOVE that.
I was very pleased with how I did at the race and was glad that Owen did well and more importantly felt good about himself after the race. I was also glad that Deb and Keith could join us for a great start to the wonderful turkey day we had.
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