Dana Point Turkey Trot

I wasn't going to post at all about the Turkey Trot just because too much time has passed since it occurred and it's no longer timely, but just the other day I got some pics back from the photographers at the race and it reminded me just how awesome/awful the conditions were.

The run was right around the Dana Point harbor, and under most circumstances I'm sure would have been really nice. The only problem, however, was that California decided to have of it's alotted 30 days of rain per year be on Thanksgiving day. It wasn't just rain, either, it was a downpour. We ran at 7am, and our group took part in the 10k race which coincided with the heaviest part of the storm.

I think the first picture was taken during one of the more rainy parts. Seriously, it was as if the organizers had planned the day and time to be exactly when the rain would be at it's heaviest. My clothes were completely soaked through in just a couple of minutes, and my shoes had that feeling like I had been going on Bigfoot Rapids at Knott's Berry Farm and the waterfall just happened to dump on me. Luckily the race wasn't any longer than it was, otherwise I would have been more concerned about the skin on my feet cracking.

I forgot my camera, and the people bothered to take pictures haven't sent any out. Greg ran the race, along with his wife Laura, sister-in-law, and a couple of other Irvine friends, Ryan and Kristin.

The part I was most impressed with myself about had to be the fact that I had played soccer the night before until almost 11pm, played Dr. Mario with Dave and Caitlin until about 12am, and then just Dave until about 3am. I finally got to bed at about 330am after reading some of Breaking Dawn, and woke up at 530am to go run the six miles. I had told myself before going to bed that if it was raining when I woke up that I wasn't going. And it wasn't, not really until the race actually started. Freakin' rain. It was kind of miserable, but really fun at the same time because how many times am I ever going to have that opportunity again, right?

There were a couple of things that I didn't like about the race. The course was way too thin for the amount of people running the race. And it was aggravating to be running and retracing your path in half-mile increments. The distance markers were confusing. There were no pacing groups so I had to really fight my way up to get to runners I was comfortable with. The biggest problem was that the course was overbooked. They shouldn't have several thousand people run on a path that's about 15 feet wide for both directions.

My final time was somewhere around 44 minutes, with about a 7:12 mile pace. I was pretty surprised with that time, especially considering all the impediments I had put up for myself. The best part was that I felt strong enough on the last mile to really pick up the pace, and even sprint the last quarter to half mile or so. Everyone had decent times, and I was especially proud of Greg for his time of about 46 minutes because he's only just recently begun to run more regularly.

I need a half marathon to work towards. And I think I'd like to run another marathon in the summer time. Lately I've been thinking that I might like to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon. Crazy, right? I think I can do it. I've been really blessed to have the health and the body-type that can handle the strains that I've been placing on it. I think I would die if that weren't the case because I love being active.

**Official race time - 44:39, 7:12 per mile pace.