Downingtown, PA Turkeytrot, 2011

[JosephTree]

I had to do something this morning, so I joined 1400 other friends and ran a flat, fast, chilly 5K. The best part was that my two older kids were good sports and came along to cheer for me, which is a bigger deal for an 08:00 starting race than usual.

I was debating on BF vs VFF and the 33F temp swung me over to the Min side. The gravel I saw on the parking lots had a part to play in the decision, too.

It was a brilliant morning and not too windy. The course turned out to be pretty BORING, almost entirely on the high school's parking lots and driveways, with what I think were too many zig and zags. It wasn't really too bad, but I've had some really nice trail runs lately and I'm spoiled a bit.

The amenities were superior, with warm indoor johns, hot coffee and bagels before the race and cookies and bananas after.

In retrospect, I could have done fine with BF on this course, but I think the decision to stay a bit warmer was not a bad one. There were no other BF runners and only 2 other VFF wearers. I don't think the big shoe companies have much to fear just yet.

In the end, I ran a PR* coming in at 21:50 (7:02 m/m) or so clock time, and somewhat faster than that by chip time, but they haven't posted results yet.

(* This phase of my running life.)

Sunday's a 15K Trail Race, with an 11:00 (civilized) starting time.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Congrats on the PR!  That's

Congrats on the PR! That's mega fast!

 

[JosephTree]

Thanks, TJ.  An improvement

Thanks, TJ. An improvement of more than 1:30 over my last 5K. (Which I think of as fluff runs, but still fun.)

Here's the official results posting:


1391359Joseph Christopher55MChip 21:46Clock 21:587:04

 

[DNEchris]

Good deal Joseph - glad you

Good deal Joseph - glad you had fun.

I managed to get off road yesterday and had a good day on the trails of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. I could have run it BF but I wouldn't have got as far!

 

[JosephTree]

Chris, I go offroad tomorrow

Chris, I go offroad tomorrow morning with a 15K trail race. I hope for another PR, which shouldn't be too hardto achieve - I've only run one other 15K, and it was hot and very "technical."

 

[Longboard]

Thats REAL fast!

Thats REAL fast! Congrats!

And can someone explain to me why races that only even have a 5K distance insist on starting before sunrise at locations and times of the year where it's typically a dark 30 degrees F or less at the gun yet up to 55-60 degrees and sunny by noon?

I mean it would make it much more family and racer friendly without having the problems that starting that late would have for longer distances or summer 5K's.

 

[JosephTree]

Thanks, LB. I think they

Thanks, LB.

I think they start the Turkey Trots early to get folks home to the bosoms of their families. Another consideration might be that they can't get permission to close the roads they use any later in the morning. But , yeah, I hate the cold, early start.