23rd Annual Turkey Classic 5-Mile Road Race

Run: 5 miles in :33:45 min. (Unoffical) @ 9:00 a.m.

Weather Report: Cloudy with scattered Rain/Flurry Mix, 38°F, 86% Humidity, Winds: WNW @ 8 mph; feels like 32°F.

While preparing to going through my ritual preparations (wake-up, oatmeal, two cups of coffee, shower…) for this morning’s run, I did something I have not done before: I decided to wear the complementary race shirt to the race to be worn during the run. In the past I had operated under some self reinforced taboo that it was somehow dangerous to wear the race’s shirt during the actual running of said race. Athlete’s, even weekend warriors, are a superstitious lot. So why did I throw caution to the wind?

In the end, I sort of grabbed the "caution" in mid-air rather than allowing it freely into the wind... as it so happened, I did pack a few extra shirts just in case I lost my courage to change just in advance of the race... which I did. Twenty minutes before "go time" I made may race day call home to talk with my wife and then slipped into the soccer team t-shirt I receieved from the kids at my school. The desire to keep the mojo of my last few races was too hard to resist so I felt obligated to wear the same get up... and it kind of worked.

While I did not place in the top three for my age group I did finish 5th (M35-40) and 26th out of 362 overall. Once again I felt incredibly strong coming down the finish and had I been within a realisitc distance of a like-age-grouped male, I may have been able to track him down. As fate would have it, the runners with whom I was going to travel the last mile were all much younger (and clearly in a different age group) so it posed no personal benefit for me to kill myself in an effort to beat them. Looking back, I realize I probably should have tried to pass them anyway, but during the race I rationalized away that necessity and was happy with my finish... feeling as though I had done the best I could.

Embrassez votre été invincible!