Happy Turkey Trot Day!

I've been laying low, running-wise, knowing that weaning Sami would signal the start of training for spring races. This morning I ran the Turkey Trot. I had zero expectations - I was pushing Sami in the buggy, and have been doing precious little running. A couple of miles on the treadmill at lunch every now and again. No training to speak of, and no pushing kids in the buggy! And most importantly - I didn't have my pre-race nightmare. I did have a real-life nightmare, when I realized I had missed packet pickup, but it turns out that packet pickup continued through Wednesday, even though it was only schedule for Monday and Tuesday.

For whatever reason, my body loves this crazy, insanely hilly course. And I set a PR!! Not a "real" PR - I am truly light years away from that right now. But I set my buggy-pushing 5K PR - I beat my time from two years ago by 10 seconds!! Really, I was hardly exerting myself at all. I spent the first .75 mi caught up in the throng of non-runners, unable to maneuver through with the buggy. I stopped a few times to chat with friends. I took lots of walk breaks. My first mile was just shy of 16 min. I hit mile 2 at 29:30, and crossed the finish at 42:29. Hello, negative splits!! Am I really running faster by going slower? It appears to be so!

It was very encouraging to unexpectedly post this time. I know, 13 min miles are nothing to crow about. But I felt great, and I know now I've still got some legs on me.

I desperately need new shoes, and a new watch. I lost my cheap, plastic, 10 year old watch a few months ago, and not knowing what my pace is at any given time is a little frustrating, even at a fun run. And my shoes are nearly a year old (sinful!!), and really don't fit right. I got sweet talked in to buying narrows, and they're too narrow. I'm sorely tempted to try the new Nikes that are for overpronaters, but don't have the traditional bulkiness of stability/motion control shoes.

No black Friday shopping for me - it's Buy Nothing day, after all, but I'll be down at the shop sooner or later. I have a pocket full of coupons and I'm not afraid to use them.