Twinsburg Turkey Trot 5Mile
Ed Prochak
5miles
Twinsburg, Ohio
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Time 52:+
Executive summary: A beautiful day, a new course mixing road, paved
trail and gravel trail, a decent crowd, a small gift bag, and a decent
run.
I found out about the race on election day. So this wasn't a really
well promoted event. (I live in Twinsburg.) Anyway, I wavered on
whether to run or not. I missed the early registration, and kind of
settled on not running. The week before the race did not go well in
training. I did no training! But the evening before I decided I really
wanted to run this.
The morning of the race, I needed to get some things done at home that
could not wait.So with about 25minutes before start time I head out. I
get there with about 10minutes to spare, register and check in. Hey
there's a gift bag this year. Not much in it but some flyers and
discount coupons, a bottle of hand sanitizer and a bottle of myoplex.
I stop and stuff the bag and shirt into the car on the way to the
starting line.
Nice temps for the race. Mid November and it's warm, at least mid
50'sF at 10AM. I see a former coworker, Bill, and say hi. He is faster
than me so I get further back in the pack. And we are off. The start
is out front of the fitness center and slightly downhill, so the start
seems too easy. I'm not huffing and puffing like I usually do in the
beginning.
First part is out on the street. The gazelles moving ahead, but the
rest is staying fairly close together. It was a decent crowd, about
100 runners I learned later. This is mainly uphill until the U-turn
that takes us onto the park trail. I've run this trail in practice a
couple times. It is gravel and at this point fairly steep downhill. I
like running downhill, I lift my legs and leg gravity work for me. I
pass about a dozen runners at this point, knowing a good many of them
will get me back.
Then a flat section along railroad tracks and a wetlands area. there
are a couple wooden walkways here to avoid the water. Now up and down
in the woods. It's a lovely area. They must have gone through with
leaf blowers because last time I ran this trail it was covered in
leaves. So on the ups I get passed and on the downs I pass back.
The course goes back onto the streets at the trail end. here it is a
couple short downhills. Again I try to let fly and gain ground. At the
bottom of the first one I catch up to Bill. I'm surprised and I tell
him so.
the second downhill leads to the paved bike trail that is usually part
of this race when it was a 5K. This runs roughly parallel to Tinkers
Creek. It's fairly flat, and in this stretch I try some surges. I
manage to pass Bill and get passed by him a couple times. I'm actually
surprised at this point how well I feel.
Near the end of this trail I target a couple runners ahead of me,
trying to plan how to pass them. In the 5K the return was up behind
the old high school building. I know that hill well and planned to
pass on a part where it has a bit of downhill. But drat it all, they
turn us there back along the street toward the start. Curses for not
checking the course map beforehand! this way is just basically a long
uphill. Well I settle in for this final push.
Just then a young lady falls into stride with me and we run together
toward the hill. We chat a little, encouraging each other. Amusingly
she says that I'm pacing her! We manage to pass another runner on the
hill and turn for the finish. I let her know I'm going to try my best
to beat her. I put on what little kick I have left, but she has a
little more. I think she got under 52minutes. I see the clock at
52:04, but I think that was before i crossed the finish line. I'm
waiting for race result to be posted.
So maybe I take this week as a long taper before a 5miler. I was
surprised at my time. I expected to finish maybe over 60minutes.
I looked at the course map today and it I'm reading this right, there
is over 1000feet in elevation change from low to high points. It did
not seem like much during the race.
Prizes to the top finishers were frozen turkeys along with the usual
trophies.
It was a fun race.
Ed
Anthony
You finished well ahead of your expected time.
To what do you credit that?
And did you end up finishing ahead of Bill?
Anthony.
Ed Prochak
> Nice race and write-up Ed.
>
> You finished well ahead of your expected time.
> To what do you credit that?
Dumb Luck? Actually I think it is that I do like running rolling
hills, up a little, the down a little. Lots of folks like to brake on
the downhill. I like to let myself fly downhill as long as I can keep
up the cadence. Even with a longer stride, I end up stepping faster
downhill.
And wahoo! my official time was 51:58!
>
> And did you end up finishing ahead of Bill?
Yes I did, but not by much. His time was 52:14.
>
> Anthony.
Results are posted at http://www.chaneyevents.com/
They have finish line videos. Look for the one titled
2009 Twinsburg Turkey Trot 49 17 to 53 48
Hopefully this link takes you right there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niMyl_QQlbw
Watch beginning about 2:15 into the video.
They should have put the camera on a tripod. the angle is way too low.
There is a starting line video too. I'm at the back of the pack behind
one baby stroller and ahead of another.
Enjoy the run.
Ed