Thanksgiving Racing!

I have never participated in a Thanksgiving Day race before. Now there are a myriad of 5K's around on turkey day, I've just never been inclined to participate, until this year. But why just run a 5K when there's a half marathon available, with a medal and everything?! You all know how I feel about medals; it's become somewhat of an obsession I suppose.

So the Thankful 13 race helped me to earn my turkey and another sweet medal. What more could a girl ask?  The race was in Lehi, and much of the race was along the Jordan/Provo river parkway trail, which is lovely, by the way. The morning was clear, no snow to contend with thank goodness. There was a biting cold wind that spurred us along for the first few miles. As the sun rose higher in the sky, the wind became less of an issue. It even became quite pleasant. There were flocks of birds, large and small, flying overhead. There are a good deal of wetlands in the area and the wildlife was a nice diversion.

I felt really good through this whole race, which is a big change from my last few races. My last 5 half marathons have all been over 3 hour finish times. I realized around mile 5 that I was well on track to finally get back to a sub 3 hour half. And I was feeling pretty sassy about it. The sassyness continued through the rest of the race even. I began to pass people around mile 7 this time. Most races it takes me till around mile 10 to catch up with the people who don't pace themselves and bonk around there. I managed a really consistent effort for this race, and was pleased to come in at 2:50:41. My family was waiting at the finish line and I think it's the first time that they've all been there to see me finish a race. I ended up getting an apple pie along with my finisher medal too! Then we were off to enjoy Thanksgiving frivolity at my uncle's house.

It was a great way to start off a day of Thanksgiving and I'll definitely be doing this race again. I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend and running happy :)
Cheers!