Warren Turkey Trot 5 Miler

Today I continued my annual Thanksgiving tradition by participating in the 31st Annual Warren Turkey Trot 5 Miler with my brother, sister, and wife. This race is held each year at the Kent State Trumbull campus in Warren, Ohio and always draws a lot of runners. This year, between the 5 mile and 2 mile races, the event set a record crowd of nearly 2,200 people. The weather definitely played a role in this with temps around 40 and sunny.

After my 64 mile ultra marathon last weekend I really wasn't anticipating that fast of a time today. I figured I'd get about halfway and my legs would suddenly turn into concrete. Well, I hit the first mile in 7 minutes flat. I thought to myself... Hmm, I'm probably starting off the race too fast again as usual. However, I hit the second mile again on a 7 minute/mile pace. At this point I was beginning to near the turnaround point and was anticipating a gradual slow down, but I tried to continue focusing on the pace that I was moving at and see how long I could hold it. Once I reached mile 3 I was surprised to see 21:30 on the clock. At this point I told myself, OK... let's try to turn this into a race now.

I knew the 4th mile would be the toughest, both mentally and physically, since it brings you just about to the last long road to the finish. In my head I kept thinking about the David Goggins video I watched last night where he says, "In a race you will hit a wall and you have a choice to make. You can either stop right there or you can go parallel left or parallel right. You're looking for that door and when you reach that door you have a decision to make. Should I open it? Or should I keep it closed? If you keep it closed you've made the decision to quit. If you choose to open it then you've decided to continue on with your plan or mission."

Thinking about this quote and the fact that I've done many races much longer than this kept me mentally tough at the end. There have been times when I've decided to take the easy way out and ended up regretting it afterwards. So, I told myself... not today. Before I knew it I was making the final turn to the finish and was able to sprint in with a time of 35 minutes, 50 seconds. I was very pleased with my finish and glad to be able to share this day with my friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving! I definitely have much to be thankful for!

Tami, Jeff, Me & Jamie