Marathon Training Week 3 and Turkey Trot 5k Recap

Whew! I’m alive!

I realize it’s December now and I’m a little late on this Turkey Trot Recap lol, but….

I went home to Mexico (well the border, but same thing) for Thanksgiving and came back with two sick kids and a sick mommy 😦

We got to my hometown Wednesday night and I had plans to run the local Turkey Trot the next morning. I kinda really wanted to run it since last year it was my first “official” race post pregnancy and I wanted to see if I could beat my time–last year was 25:40– and, most importantly, it’s also a race that raises money to help local cancer patients and their families. My mother-in-law is in her second battle with breast cancer.

I used to run up that 'D' hill during cross country :)

I used to run up that ‘D’ hill during my high school cross country years πŸ™‚

I knew that circumstances would be different than the previous year. I was alone without my husband to help with the kids so sleeping arrangements were me with two toddlers in a small room. Yeah, not a lot of sleep happening. I managed to get in a couple of hours and was up with the sun my son at 5 a.m. (actually, the sun wasn’t even up then!) The race started late, 9 a.m., and I was thankful for this so my body could adjust to the exhaustion I was feeling from traveling the night before and little sleep.

At the race I met up with my fave high school buddy, Camilla, and we chatted as the smaller kid races passed. Her son ran his first 40 yard dash and it was the cutest thing! I wanted my daughter to participate but didn’t enter her because I wanted daddy to be there too–next year πŸ™‚

Then it was my turn! I scooted myself at the front and chatted with a girl I knew would place in my age group–she always does. The horn sounded and I saw her speed off. I tried very hard to maintain even splits but that first mile always goes by so fast and my watched beeped away a 7:40 something mile.

Mile two was an uphill incline and it always gets me. I managed to stick to a mid 8 minute mile and tried so hard to get a better 3 mile. I barely got it under an 8:30 and finished the race with a 25:11 (8:12/mile). Just about 30 seconds better than last year’s race! Not a PR but that wasn’t what I wanted; I wanted to beat the previous year’s time and I did it πŸ˜€

Camilla was cheering me on at the finish line and snagged this pic of me gunning it at the end

It doesn't look like I'm going fast but it sure felt like it lol!

It doesn’t look like I’m going fast but it sure felt like it lol!

I went to look at the race results and saw I had finished 4th in the 20-29 age group—juuust missed it! Next year I’ll be 30 and the odds will ever be in my favor as there were only about a handful this year and I counted about 4 that finished slower than me. So I have that to look forward to–at least for my hometown race lol!

The rest of the day was spent with family and the next day, Friday morning, is when the unhealthy bug bit us. My son woke up vomiting and was miserable the entire day. I decided to call the trip short and leave Saturday back home and when we got there, it was my daughter’s turn. She was even worse and lasted the next two days super sick 😦 On Monday, I went to work the most sleep deprived I’d ever been probably since my kids were newborn. I made it through 1st period before I had to call in for a sub. I felt so sick and I knew that it was now my turn to suffer.

It was the longest time of no running since I could remember (not counting post-marathon rest) but I felt like it did me a lot of good to rest my body and let myself fully recover.

Prior to the Turkey Trot I had run on Tuesday a good solid 5 miles at an 8:58 pace which brought me to weekly total mileage of: 8.1

Yep, lol!

–How was your running week(end)? Did you Turkey Trot?

–Ever ran sleep deprived?

 

9 responses

  1. Sorry to hear that you and the kiddos were so sick!!! I’m glad you were able to fit in the turkey trot before you got sick. Great job on beating your time from last year AND for staying tough in that third mile. Hope you get some sleep soon!!! πŸ™‚

  2. Congrats on meeting your goal! Stomach bugs are the absolute worst, they just suck the energy right out and leave you feeling drained. We had one that went through our whole team in college and that was probably the last time I had something like that and it was so miserable.I remember going back to practice and being out by Papago by myself and stopping, wanting to cry because I was so exhausted and didn’t even think I could finish the run ha. I can’t imagine having it on top of having to take care of kids..you’re superwoman! πŸ™‚ I hope you’re able to get rested up this week and I’m so glad you all are feeling better!

  3. I’m glad you got your goal of beating last year’s time πŸ™‚
    Oh my goodness what a series of long days! I hope you’re feeling better and well rested by now. It should help that you didn’t fight your body and you let it rest like it needed.
    I did a Turkey Trot too, it was so much fun! A great way to kick off the holiday πŸ˜€