Race Report: Turkey Trot

I did a "race for the cure" type thing when Max was 2 mos old, but other than that, I've never done a race that involved getting the both of us ready to go and out of the house at a decent hour. It was a total fire drill, and by the time we got there, all the good parking was gone and we ended up over 1/4 mi from the start. There was a brief moment of terror when Max loudly proclaimed "Max poop," but it must have been a false alarm, THANK GOD. There was no time for messy diaper changing before the start.

We started back with the walkers and baby joggers. My dad accompanied us, but got pretty wiped by the first couple of hills, so we left him behind at mile 1. This course is extremely hilly, even by Cville standards, and pushing Max up and down hills was immensely challenging. I walked most of the steep uphills, hoping to make up some time on the downhills, but keeping the stroller from dragging me headfirst down the steep hills was almost as challenging as going up. However, I still managed to run 11:30 in mile 2, my best of the race.

I felt a little crummy during mile 3, and by the time I got my second wind, we'd made the turn onto the crushed gravel path. It is narrow, and doesn't really allow for passing, plus they must have recently added a truckload of crushed gravel, and it was like pushing the stroller through sand. It was flat, but nearly as tough going as the uphills. Finally, around the sports club, and the finish line in sight, I kicked hard and crossed the finish in 42:40. Mark gave me a shout out and a pat on the back as I came through, and I saw a couple other friends as well. At the end of the chute, Max got a blue ribbon that proclaimed him a "PARTICIPANT."

The finish chute funneled me right to the refreshment tent, and I grabbed a bagel and some grapes, and headed back to the chute to keep an eye out for my dad. He kicked hard and looked springy as he crossed the finish in 51:00. I was way more beat than he was, that's for sure.

We had serious work to do, so didn't hang around for awards and prizes, but took the long hike straight back to the car. Max heard a train as we were walking and proclaimed "choo choo happy" and then "yellow truck" when he saw the yellow truck parked across from us. Hello, smarty-pants!