 posted Nov-22-2007 03:16 PM
   
Be prepared for a story filled with hardship, happiness, ups and downs, secret and even super-secret goals…it is truly an amazing journey to become “The Turkey”!
It’s 12:01 am on Nov 22, we have just finished the “station war” scene of Anchorman, Tonya is already nodding off, and I am wide awake. I received a box from my mom today, and I had a pretty good feeling about what was in it. I had let Tonya open her present from my mom just after midnight on her birthday…so I knew I had leverage even if she said, “no”…So I opened my box to find another box wrapped in festive paper. Oh Look!!! A Garmin 305…Sweet! I was really hoping I was going to get one so I could start monitoring my heart rate while knowing all the other things it tells me…Ok, time to go to bed…But wait, Tonya asks, “Do you want to open the one from my dad?” um…Are you serious? Of course…I open it, a card, and inside is a check for the amount of money that would be required for me to purchase a Sirius Satellite radio for my Car with my discount at work…Rock on!!! This is shaping up to be a good birthday…Tonya is snoring already. Ok time for bed. We are getting up at 6:30 to get going for the race.
I wake up when Tonya gets up to go to the bathroom, when she comes back I ask, “Did you sleep good?” She replies, “Are you serious, go to sleep.” I look at the clock it is 3:45…oops. Back to sleep. I wake up around 5:30, and lay there until the alarm goes off at 6:30. We get up and get around…it is 20 degrees…brrr. After a cup of coffee it is time for a gift from my dad and one from Tonya…My dad and step mom gave me a GC to Scheel’s Sporting Goods, sweet, running gear! Then Tonya gave me the card from her…She had made a special low calorie dessert that she makes, the night before. I assumed that was my gift, however I figured she would get me a card, but she was not supposed to get me any other gifts…she did, inside of a very nice card there was a GC for a 1 hour massage at a place right down the street…Freakin’ A!!! This is a great birthday so far, I love getting massages, and I love running, and I love music, so I got a lot of cool gifts! So we get ready for the race and head out the door around 8:00 am, for a 40 minute drive to Fremont, NE. We head out in my Dad’s Durango, which has warmed seats so Tonya is warm…that is good. I am all bundled up and starting to get hot on the drive there…blah I hate being hot. We pull up to the Fremont YMCA, jump out of the car, and head in to get our packets. We get in and they say they don’t have them. They send us to another lady, she has our entries that Tonya had faxed in (per one of the entry options on the sheet)…She says, “That will be $70.” I say, “Excuse me? We sent our entries in via fax before the deadline like it said on the sheet, so it should only be $40(the amount of the pre-written check I have in my hand)” I look at her and at Tonya and we turn around to walk off…little did she know I was going to get some cash from my dad, she thought we were leaving…She says, “Well ok, I am not sure how the fax number got on the sheet, but we consider it registering at the event, but…how much do you have there?” I said, “$40”. She said, “OK, but next year try to mail it in earlier. I will take that, and we will just mail you your shirts.” “Ok cool.” So we get our numbers and go to the bathroom…and hang out for about 20 mins or so. I decide to go outside and make sure my new toy is working. I went out, got a signal and ran about .35 miles in the parking lot. It was working, but I had not fixed all of the options the way I wanted to, oh well, I will do it later. Before I continue with the race report…I should state what my goals were for this race and all of the other important details. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fremont 5 mile Turkey Trot My first race that I felt I would actually be ready for since starting to run again in late September. I set a couple of goals, but I was not sure how they would go since it was so cold outside. It was my first 5 miler so I knew I would PR, I was just really excited to run a race on my birthday, so time did not matter that much. I had 3 goals…
1. The goal I stated on the board: 45:00
2. The secret goal (what I thought I could really do): 43:00
3. My Super Secret Birthday Goal: 41:00 The temp was 22 degrees when I started and 23 when I finished. There were very light snow flurries, and it was freaking cold.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I set my Garmin Running buddy for 43:00, although I did not know how that feature worked so I was not going to rely on it too much. I was just going to make sure my pace was faster that 8:30 the whole time. We step up to the line, it was cold, I was hugging Tonya to keep her warm.  The gun sounds and we are off…I am hauling butt! I thought back to what RunForFun had said a few days ago about 5 milers, “Run on the edge for 4 miles and then accept all the pain possible the last. Either to hold the 1st 4 mile pace or to drop into another gear and come home faster.” So if figured I should slow it up and just push it hard enough that I would feel it. Mile 1 – 7:15 Holy Crap!! That was way too fast, I usually train around 10:45/mile, I am in uncharted territory. I kept it going and decided I would slow down but only a little per mile so that I would beat my goals… Mile 2 – 8:17 OK, that was slower and now I am feeling a lot better. Seriously though, I know I can run far now, but I am a little worried about going this hard for very long…just keep it up…There goes Tonya…up towards the front, I tell her, “Hi” and she tells me, “Happy Birthday, Good Job!” At the turn around at 19:24. Mile 3 – 8:29 Ok, do not want to slow down much more, but I look at my Gamin pacer guy, and I have .25 miles on him…This is not anything like what I expected. I am feeling great besides starting to get really hot and wet from sweating...so I take the hat and glove off. Mile 4- 8:40 I still have .23 on my pacer thing, so I know I am going to beat my secret goal…but damn I might even beat the Super Secret Birthday Goal!!! I step it up, I am excited and I know I can push it through the end!!! I love running! Mile 5 – 7:40 Unofficial 5 Mile time: 40:25 WWWWHHHHHOOOOOOHHHOOOOOO!!!!! Man that was awesome…holy crap I think I am going to puke.  I am a little frozen, but I recover pretty quickly, after we get inside.  What a great run! What a great Birthday! By far the best I can remember…Running with my special lady friend, getting running stuff as gifts, and kicking butt on my running goals. This is definitely one of those high points… I did not win my age group, I am sure I was not even in the top 50…but man what a great day!
------------------
Phill Absolutely nothing I say on here should be taken seriously...unless it has to do with marine animals, hoola-hoops, or pee wee hockey leagues.
IP: Logged |
Enjoy the rest of your day!
