Race Recap: Chester County Turkey Trot

Chester County Turkey Trot 5K
November 28, 2013

This is my 5th year running this race.  I love the idea of doing a race the morning of Thanksgiving (counteracting all the turkey I know I will eat) and the 5K is the perfect distance.

The first couple of years I did the race, it was really small.  It was held in the parking lot of the grocery store.  But over the last couple of years, the race has really grown.  It's now held at the local high school  and runs around there.

My mom nicely picked up my chip and shirt the day before for me.  You can also pick it up race morning.  We got nice navy blue v-neck shirts and the logo is orange (it's above).  An orange and blue shirt - I love it!

The way the course runs, you have to get there pretty early because they close the roads.  We stayed in the car and kept warm as long as possible.

I head to the race about 10 minutes before it started.  Still to long.  I was a popsicle by the time it started!  At the start line, they did have estimated pace signs to line at... which I am pretty sure everyone ignored.  When the race started people in front of my were definitely not going at the right pace.  I know it's hard to enforce that, but it was frustrating.

My first mile was my slowest.  I was weaving a little and trying to regain feeling in my feet.  I think if I hadn't been dodging the slower people, my first mile would have been faster.

The course goes around the high school and does an out and back towards town before heading to the finish.  By the end of mile 1, my feet had warmed up and I was really getting into my groove.  The course is pretty flat which helped with my pace.  Mile 2 ended up closes to an 8 min/pace and I kept it up for the last mile.

Heading into the last .1, I was feeling strong and was excited to be done!  My final pace was just over an 8 minute per mile pace.  I do think if the first mile had been more open and I hadn't had to dodge people, I would have dropped below 8.  Either way, I was really happy with my time!

Splits

Results
Official: 3.1 miles, 25:07, 8:06 pace
Garmin: 3.11 miles, 25:07, 8:05 pace