(Not So) Happy Thanksgiving

I decided last minute to do the local Turkey Trot this morning. When I decided last night it said it would likely be raining, but I figured that might be fun. I dont know if "fun" was the right word. It wasnt the worst thing I have ever experienced, but the course was a mess and it wavered between cold and hot the whole time. There were a lot of portions of the course in which we were running through puddles and mud pits. And during a lot of the course people were running off course, or making their own course. So that was a bit chaotic ;) We followed suit at one point in which there was a paved trail a bit to the west of the gravel path we were supposed to run on. We followed about 1/2 of the people to the paved path ... and I think we shaved off a bit of distance by doing so. We ended up a bit short of the 8K distance and I think that is where it happened!

Here is how I ended up after the race. A bit muddy, and a bit wet :) My legs didnt look 1/2 as bad as most of the people I saw, but then again, I wasnt charging full steam through puddles and mud like some of those around me!

My legs were like some sort of battle wound, proving that I was ambitious enough to get out and run in the elements. But unfortunately those "battle wounds" were a bit leaky. As my pants dried the mud became dirt and started flaking all over, including my friends car and all over the floors in my house. Oops.

Back to the race...

The whole course was crowded and it never thinned out - not even once during 5 or so miles. The end was the exact same. You got to sort of run across the finish, but then were stopped by a wall of people. And you couldnt get out of the finish coral! There was a huge backup trying to get out, and the line for bananas and water was like trying to get into the New Moon Premiere. If you look in this picture you can see the finish line (way back). Yeah, this is the finish. The huge cluster of people :( This picture is taken behind me, of the people who are waiting in line for bananas and water. Seriously. (Ok, some of these people are trying to get out of the messy gated in finish - but either way, its like a herd of trapped cattle).

Though it was a bit messy, this wasnt the (un)happy element of Thanksgiving! So far, it was the best part of today! The problem is that Brooke hasnt been feeling so good lately. Last night she kept me up all night with her super heavy breathing. She has had a cough, but this was different. She seemed like she slept ok, but she definitely is having difficulty breathing. And then waking up today she has been coughing more. Not just during the night, but during the day. While she is playing or eating ... things that normally distract her. She has a bit of a fever. We were supposed to go see family today, but there were going to be quite a few other babies there. Since you cannot convince a baby to cover her mouth when coughing, there is a bit of concern with what she could/would spread to the other kids. So I opted to stay home with Brooke today and sent my husband to his family. He gets to spend some time celebrating the holiday in exchange for one special request - bring me home some strawberry pretzel salad! While I would rather be there than here, this is the best option we had.

Funny (or not so funny) thing is, Brooke was sick last year on Thanksgiving...at just a few weeks old. Seems to me she might just be anti-turkey.

Race Log
Time:54:06   Distance:4.87mi   Pace:11:06

Runkeeper time and my chip time were off by 2 seconds. Not too bad :) I went with my chip time, but the distance is what Runkeeper gave me. I could claim I ran 5 miles since thats the 8K distance, but that would make my pace 10:54 and a little less accurate.

Splits:
1 10:35
2 10:55
3 11:12
4 12:01
5 10:39

Honestly, I'm pretty happy with the result. This course was so crowded I could not have run any faster. It was wall-to-wall people. If I was feeling more rebelous I could have tried to dodge around other runners, but the mud, puddles and other obstacles would have made that more of a moronic move than a runner move. So I let the race and the other runners be my guide and still ended up running faster than I have on my long runs with my "11:00 pacer" ;)