A Sunday in November, that just happens to be one week post NYC Marathon.
I knew that the fairway market turkey trot, which was put on by race awesome, was happening this weekend, and while I was interested in running it I just wasn't sure how I was going to feel after the marathon. But since, overall, I was feeling pretty good this week I asked Rachel and Kasey if they would be interested in running it with me. I felt like it would be a good way to ease back into running after a very easy week.
We all signed up at the end of the week and after some brief confusion about the date ( I may have told them that the race was Saturday morning...), we set up a plan for Sunday morning. I would pick up Kasey and then Rachel around 8, and we would all head to Eisenhower park together. After my last marathon I rushed back into racing a little too quickly, so I agreed to run this race with Rachel to govern my speed and hopefully get her a new 5k PR.
It was a little but of a chilly morning, at about 40 degrees, so we all layered with underarmor shirts and pulled on gloves as we headed to the start area. Kasey and I did race-day bib pickup, but I had been able to pick Rach's bib up Thursday night as she managed to register before the cutoff. Once Kasey and I had grabbed our bibs we retreated to the warm car, and hung out there until about 15 minutes before the race was due to start. Then we pulled on our gloves and ear warmers and headed to the start line. When we got to the start area we found a bunch of other members of the Merrick Bicycles Tri Team getting ready to take a pre-race photo, and we joined in.
Then we headed over to the start area and Corey, the race director, gave us the usual pre-race briefing, letting us know to follow the blue arrows that were set up around Eisenhower park to stay on course. The race was more of a loop than an out and back, and would bring us through a big area of the park before returning to the area that the start/finish was setup in. They tooted an air-horn, and the runners were off. Rach and I had a faster first mile than expected, and we even kept Kasey in our sight for most of it. When we saw the first mile marker I looked down at my watch, and it informed me that we had finished the first mile in 9:23, which was a nice little mile. We put our heads down and kept pushing through mile two, where things started to feel a little hard for Rachel, so we lightened up the pace a little. Her goal going into the race was to finish in less than 35 minutes, and the first mile gave us a nice little buffer for that goal.
As we continued racing the course took us past the playground and the mini-golf course in Eisenhower park. During mile two Rach needed a breif walk break to catch her breath, but she was well on the way to her goal, and mile two rolled in at just under a 10:30 pace. As we headed into the home strech of the race we caught a glimse of Kasey looking strong as she headed in the opposite direction of us, still running at a solid pace. The last mile zipped by, and before we knew it the finish line was in sight, surrounded by supportive members of MBTT who had come out to cheer.
Rachel and I finished the race in 31:35, well under her goal of 35 minutes! It was another PR for Rachel, who has been on a PR roll lately. Kasey also had a great race, finishing in 28:36 - which was good enough for second place age group!
As we waited for the race to come to a close so that the awards ceremony would begin, we grabbed some hot chocolate to warm up. Race awesome always has a great post race spread, which included Pie (apple AND pumpkin), Soup, Bagels, Water, and fruit. Today we only had hot chocolate, since we were heading to get brunch after the race. They also had fires going and marshmellows available for roasting.
While we were waiting, we also managed to swap our shirts for correctly sized ones- since we had signed up so late there were only very large shirts left, but lucky for us there were extras left over post-race so we were all able to swap for ones that would fit us properly. They were nice t-shirts, featuring a cute little turkey.
Eventually the last finishers came through and the crowd did a good job of cheering them all in. The awards began shortly after, and Kasey got to go up to grab her medal. Race awesome has been doing really nice age group medals this season, that are made from laser cut wood.
All in all, it was a fun little 5k, with great organization and support staff. I always enjoy running race awesome races, and look forward to doing more in the future. Race awesome has a program where if you volunteer with them doing race setup, bib pickup, or course aid you get race registration credits, so a extra nice part of this race for me was that I was able to use one of the credits that I earned helping to setup the Rogue Run last month to sign up, so the registration came at no cost to me. In December, I plan on running their "Jingle all the way 5k" using the other race credit that I earned.
Once Kasey had collected her age group award we picked up our friend Emily and headed to Brownstones for brunch. Everyone other than me had previously eaten there and talked up the food and drink, and the brunch did not disappoint. I went for the avocado toast, and just looking at the photo I took makes me wish I was eating it right now.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and a relaxing weekend. I managed to get a few miles in, and even took a spin class and went swimming! Next weekend I will be running a race in Savannah, GA, and I am looking forward to checking out a city that I have never visited before.