Grand Strand Turkey Trot 5k

For the third year in a row, I ran the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand Turkey Trot 5K. There is an 8K as well, but since I hadn't run since the half marathon, I figured I would stick to the 5K this year again. Maybe I will get brave next year.

Let me just say one thing about the course - flat as a pancake. It was actually a different course from the previous year, but still flat. As a pancake. Completely flat. Score for me since hills have killed my left knee.

Ashley and my twin brother ran the 1 mile fun run together. My Mom also did it and pushed Audrey in the stroller. There weren't very many people doing the mile, and the fog made it difficult to watch them circle the lake, but since that race was 30 minute before ours, we were able to watch at least part of it.

Here they are at the halfway point. I was using the bathroom, but my brother's wife acted as our personal photographer that day. They were going pretty strong...And here they are at the end, and as you can see from the clock, they did it in 11:15, which was great. Ashley now says she wants to do the 5K next year...we shall see.

Ray also ran the 5K and we bantered back and forth all week about who was going to win. I was sure I was going to beat him since he hadn't run since he hurt his foot six weeks ago. Yea, I was wrong. And no, he wouldn't let me post any pictures of him, but he ended up doing it in 24:35, and was 3rd in his age group!

As far as myself? I obviously really suck at running hills, because I KILLED my PR from the 5K I did a few weeks ago that was the hilliest course I had ever done.

This is about 1/2 a mile left to go, and yup, I was smiling! From the start, I thought I was running so slow...I was convinced I was going to hit the first mile marker and look at my watch and it would say at least 9 minutes. Wow, was I wrong! I looked at my watch at mile 1 and I was at 8:03. Holy crap, I have never, ever run a mile that fast! Mile 2 was slower, I remember looking at my watch and it said 17 - something as I passed mile marker 2. Then I just tried to pick up my pace continually for the last mile. And that must have worked....

I finished with a time of 26:18, 68/280 overall, 4th for my age group. I ran an average pace of 8:28! I couldn't freaking believe it. That made for a good Turkey Day...and it helped when I wanted to have a second helping of my sister-in-laws strawberry pie.