Turkey Trot

Yes, I know, I have been terrible about posting. Mostly this is because I am doing more weightlifting than running, and really, who wants to write about weightlifting? (Boring!) So, I am going to take a holiday break from the blog until I start training intensely again (January!) for my next marathon. BUT, not before I write about the Prospect Park Turkey Trot.

It's so funny. The Cincinnati Turkey Trot is a HUGE deal. I mean, they even have an entire website dedicated to the event. And this year they had 11,558 finishers. It's also cool because you kind of get to preview part of the Flying Pig course.

Well, Bill and I signed up for the Prospect Park Turkey Trot knowing it was going to be a lot smaller, but we had no idea how small. It was like a cute little neighborhood run. It was actually a LOT of fun. And there was no pressure at all.

It is put on by the Prospect Park Track Club, and is a 5-miler in Prospect Park (obviously), which is a very pretty park in Brooklyn designed by the same guys who did Central Park. They had 1290 finishers.

Because Bill and I don't get around to Brooklyn that often we were totally lost. We almost didn't make it to the start. We just started following people with race bibs, and it's a good thing we did, because I don't think we would have made it in time. The whole time I was talking strategy with Bill: "Do you want to run together? What do you think your pace will be? I'm taking it easy...maybe I'll start with a 9:30 and then if I'm feeling good I'll do a 9:00 pace, but I'm not going any faster than that..."

It turns out that it didn't really matter :)

This start was NOT the millisecond-precise, super-anal-retentive NYRR start that we are used to. In fact, I didn't even hear a gun, or a horn, or an announcer or anything. Bill and I just kind of noticed that the people in front of us were moving. So we ran about 20 feet, and then...we were suddenly walking about 10 feet. That's when I was like "FUN RUN!" Forget time, forget everything else, just have fun.

I did end up feeling pretty out of shape. It's not like I felt like I was running fast, just that it took a lot out of me.

The best part was that Santa was at the finish line (everyone kept yelling "Just around the corner and you'll see Santa!") and that at the end, instead of water, they had hot chocolate!!! Perfect!

Oh yeah, and we also got really nice bags from Jackrabbit instead of t-shirts.

All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I think I would definitely do it again!