Thanksgiving Day PR!

No, I'm not talking about the amount of food/calories I ate yesterday (although I'm afraid that would be pretty impressive too), but rather the 5 mile Turkey Trot I ran.  The Turkey Trot makes it officially one year, since I started running.  It's crazy to think about all that I've accomplished in one year.  I have so much to be thankful for this year, and my running/health is a major one!  What made yesterday's race even better, was getting to run it with my hubby (well, for the most part).
Our day started at 6:15am.  Race time was at 8:00am.  7,000 people had signed up to run the race, so I knew parking and logistics could be problematic.  It seems like race day is always "hurry up and wait"!  Yesterday was no different.  It was fairly chilly (around 38 degrees), which made the waiting part that much worse.  We found our place in line, right in front of the sub 50 minute pace sign.  Slowly but surely time ticked away until it was "go" time.  The first mile was heavily congested.  It eventually thinned out a tiny bit but then became clustered again around 2 - 2.5 miles.  Turn arounds are the worst!  I lost hubby at this point, which was expected (and okayed this time!).  There was a local police SWAT team running (carrying a flag and singing their little chants) and whenever I'd slow my pace ever so slightly, they would swarm me.  After a mile or so of this, I decided enough was enough!  I broke free from the pack and found my own groove....far, far away from the SWAT team.  I had hoped to break 50 minutes.  Everytime I looked down at my watch, I was on pace to do this.  The last 1.5 mile was tough.  At the 4 mile mark, I wanted to stop and walk.  I hurt and was no longer having fun!  I told myself "only 10 more minutes".  I can do anything for 10 minutes, right?!  With the finish line in site (the absolute WORST part of any race for me - except the marathon) I kept pushing.  I crossed the line at 47:11 (9:27 pace).  I thought I was gonna puke...low blood sugar and a hard effort had gotten the best of me!  Luckily, it passed quickly and I went on to get my chip cut off my shoe and wait for my hubby.  The food/water area was so crazy, we didn't even attempt to get anyting and just headed home.  I know 9:27 isn't a fast pace, but this represents over a 4 minute PR from last year's race.  Hubby finished in around 51 minutes (longest run prior to the race was 3.1 miles...about a month ago).  We're both really happy with our times and even happier that we got out and exercised on an otherwise glutenous day!  I hope this can continue to be a Thanksgiving Day tradition for many more years to come!

As a completely selfish aside....I generally feel pretty crummy about how "slow" I am.  Turns out I beat all the people I knew who were running (this may or may not include people new to running, ha, ha)!  Well, except for my speedy sister who apparently turned in 7:00 minute miles!  I feel honored that she slowed down for me the past year!!  ;-)