I ran the 2008 Mesa Mi Amigo's Turkey Trot 10K this morning. The weather reports all week had been indicating thunderstorms for this race. My aversion to running in the rain is well-known. To increase the likelihood that I wouldn't sissy out of the race, I asked Bill for a ride. It was pouring when I woke up, but as I got ready to leave, the rain stopped and the skies cleared. By the time Bill arrived a little before 7:00, it was shaping up to be a really nice day for a race-- cool and clear.We arrived at the race site about an hour and a half before the start of the race. After picking up our numbers and T-shirts, we milled around the park. We ran into my boss Greg and some of his running buddies. After drinking some water and making a couple trips to the port-o-lets, we made our way down to the starting line and positioned ourselves near the front of the pack. The gun went off right on time, and we were able to get off to a good start. The first 2 1/2 miles of the race is a loop around the block that re-crosses the starting line. That section of the race went by pretty quickly and I was feeling pretty good. My bladder was pretty full and that kept me from pushing a faster pace. As we completed the first loop and passed the starting line, Bill started to pull ahead. I was feeling comfortable with my 8:15-ish pace and let him pull away. At about mile 3, I realized I wasn't going to finish the race without relieving myself (damn fun size bladder!). I found a nice big bush in a vacant lot just before mile 4, and took care of business. From mile 4 on, I felt really good. I was running between a 8:00 and 9:00 pace. I got some water at the water station at mile 4.5 and dumped it on my head. Ahhhh! At the 5.9 mile mark, the route crossed Brown Rd. and headed back into Red Mountain Park where the race finishes. I saw a seemingly fit woman off to the side puking her guts out. What a bummer to lose it so close to the finish! As I entered the park, I picked up my pace a little. The route makes a couple sharp turns as it winds its way through the park, which makes a little hard to finish with a good stride. As we entered the path where the finish line was, I kicked it up a notch and passed a couple people who had been ahead of me for the whole race-- despite their best efforts to keep me behind them.  I finished in 53:16, by far my fastest time for a 10K. I believe my previous PR was a 56:00-ish time at the Lost Dutchman 10K earlier this year. I think a sub-50:00 10K is in my very near future. I met up with Bill at the finish area. There is a person that runs the race in a turkey suit. You get a special certificate if you finish faster than the turkey. Unfortunately they ran out of certificates just before Bill got his, but he'll always be able to say he beat the turkey. Overall, this was a very fun race and a quality run for me. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Activity
 Elevation (ft)  Pace (min/mile)  Splits
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Thursday, November 27, 2008
Mesa Turkey Trot 10K
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