This was the 3rd time I've run the Turkey Day 5k in downtown Minneapolis. This is the perfect cold weather race because the race distance is short and they utilize Target Center as home base for the runners. One can stay indoors to stretch and relax before heading outside to warm up and race. If I continue to run Thanksgiving Day races, it will be this race. The location is also great. The race started at 8am and I was back home in my garage by 8:45am. It was a beautiful morning for the race because the course was dry and there was virtually no wind. It was only 24 degrees at the start of the race, but I can deal with the cold fairly well as log as the winds are calm and there's no precipitation.
This was my first and only 5k race this year. The Lifetime Turkey Day is the largest Thanksgiving Day race in the Twin Cities. With the dry and calm conditions, the race drew an extra large number of participants (over 7,000 runners). The race is chip timed with overall and age group awards, but most of the runners are simply there to have a good time and don't take the race too seriously. Many run the race together as a family. With so many runners it's a little difficult to properly warm up for the race, as the streets are packed with people, leaving little space to carve out a pre-race warm-up run.
My goal today was to run a solid time, but I had no aspirations of a great time. Late November in Minnesota is not the time of year to run great times. If I can break 21 minutes today, I would be very happy. Half of the 16 5k's I've run have been in the 20 minute range (plus change). I've run just 6 5k's under 20 minutes and only 3 over 21 minutes. I'm still dealing with 3 nagging injuries that have plagued me over the past 3 months. My left Achilles tendon, Planter fasciitis in my right foot and discomfort in my upper right hamstring. All 3 injuries have made it difficult to fully extend my stride - particularly in faster races like today's. After this race I hope to fully heal these injuries by the first of the year and start 2018 training fresh and healthy. However as I age, it is becoming more and more difficult to completely shed my body of these discomforts. I know that if I can't heal properly, the 2016 Twin Cities Marathon will likely be my last full marathon. To successfully run a full marathon in my 60's, I must be injury free. If not, it's simply not worth it.
Anyway, today's race went as well as I could have hoped for. I finished with a time of 20:45, finishing 151st among 7,156 runners and 2nd in my age group of 146. I also ran 2 seconds faster than my 2015 time in this race. So now it's time to heal up in December and see where I am health wise come the first of the year.
Turns out I actually won my age group, although the race results don't reflect this. Got a call from the wife of the guy listed as my age group winner. Turns out he never ran the race for some reason, but let his 29 year old son run in his place, using his BIB number. When they received the first place award in the mail based on his son's time, she looked me up and called to apologize. Said they had no idea there were age group awards in this race, or never would have allowed their son to run with dad's BIB number. She then sent me the first place award via mail with a note, stating that I now have a story to tell.
Finish Video:
Race Results:
https://www.athlinks.com/event/19140/results/Event/687108/Course/1110435/Bib/1152
