I ran my first Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving! My only goal was to finish in under 40 minutes, which I did. I had an official time of 39:19, which I think was pretty good considering a few factors.

One, I’m not fast and haven’t been for years. I took a few walk breaks which slowed me down considerably.
Two, it was raining and cold. Gross.
Three, the route was on a narrow path and I was surrounded by a few hundred people.
Four, the HILLS. Okay, so there were only like 3 killer ones… but omg. I wanted to run down the downhills to gain momentum and help me up the next hill but so many people were walking or going even slower than me that I couldn’t get around them without seeming like a jerk.

In the last mile I slowed to a walk only to hear someone go “don’t walk now, you’ve stayed ahead of me this whole time! Come on!”. It was a random girl cheering me on. I picked my pace back up and chatted with her about watches for a couple of minutes before the dreaded side stitch reared its ugly head and forced me to walk again. I saw her finish not too far ahead of me.

Overall I enjoyed the race despite the cold, rain, and crowded paths. It was a fun way to kick off Thanksgiving morning.