Sunday, November 25, 2007

Tacoma Parks Turkey Trot

Thanksgiving Day I ran in the Tacoma Parks Turkey Trot. Turkey Trotting has become a ritual for me the last few years. In the past I have run the Del Rey Turkey Trot in Alexandria, VA. This year we were in the Seattle area to visit my brother. Donna has just started training for a half-marathon and is doing great. She has not run in over a year and half but is working hard to get back in shape and take her running to the next level.

We headed out for the race about 8 am. We arrived at the race start about 8:45 to pick up our chips and swag which consisted of a shirt. There were about a 1000 participates in the race. Most of the people in costume were dressed in a manner that fitted the Thanksgiving Holiday, but one individual dressed as Wonder Woman. I thought it was a very tall lady, but my brother was convinced it was a man. I wish I had a picture so I could get a vote. But alas.

The race started at 9:35 and the first mile was pretty crowded with an elevation gain of about 100 ft in less than a half mile. My time for the first mile was just over 8 minutes. Considering that I did not warm up and the crowd I had to deal with I was not overly disappointed with that time. The second mile had a loss in elevation of about 175 and I completed it in about 7.5 minutes and I was pretty happy. We had been told that the final mile was a gradual uphill. That may be a gradual uphill to people in Tacoma, but to those of us flatlanders in DC, this was a hell of hill. Based on my Garmin, the final hill was 175 feet in 0.6 mile. Even the hills I run for my "hill workouts" are nothing like this.


Over all I ran the race in 26:14. I was shooting for 25:00 - 25:30 and I finished in the top 20%, so I am not unhappy. It was good to get out and run before eating too much.
Donna finished the race in 43:??. For someone who has not run much in the last two years and is just getting back in the swing of thing I was very proud of her. She will do great in March at the Shamrock Half.

4 comments:

Rainmaker said...

Very cool! And top 20% - quite nice! You do lose a few points though for associating with folks from Tacoma. ;)

Unfortunately I can't find any YouTube video's of old 'Almost Live' skits about Tacoma. One of these days...

I'm thinking about the Shamrock Half down in Virginia Beach as well.

Jenn said...

congrats to you and Donna!!

As for the Shamrock, be prepared for WIND! I was living in VA Beach last Fall and my runner friends said that it's brutally windy along the coast as you run the stretch in the military base at Cape Henry. Of course if you know that some fine Killian's and irish stew are waiting at the end, it can pull you through!! :)

GetBackJoJo said...

Congrats! Top 20% is awesome. Congrats to your wife too. Hard to get back at it, and great to get back it!

Casey said...

Have we met or are we just kindred 'lazy triathlete' spirits? Thanks for the message. Are you signed up for races coming up?