The 110th Turkey Day race!

When I woke up Thanksgiving morning to low 50s weather, I knew I'd PR the 5 mile! As you might have noticed, my hard training with the Powermilers is paying off: I've been getting faster. Despite my qualms about a five mile race being too short for my current ability, given my marathon-trained body, I could almost guarantee a PR. My PR going into this race was a 33:30 from 2012; recent races predicted I could run 32:30. That's 6:30 pace, and I'd run two miles at that pace in the middle of a workout just this Tuesday, so I felt good about accomplishing that.

We arrived early enough to join the Powermilers' warm-up, glad that one of our group had picked up our packets on Tuesday so we could avoid those lines. After two miles, I was feeling warmed up (I was freezing when I arrived) and eager to start. For some reason, this year seemed super easy. The corrals weren't crowded, everyone was being civil, and I found an appropriate spot right away. I saw people I knew all around me - this is the 110th running of this race, and it's a big NOLA tradition - and I shook some hands and offered good luck. We sang the national anthem, then we were off (I mean, I sang. I always sing the anthem pre-race, even if it's just me warbling on by myself while other runners seem scandalized).

Photo by Powermiler spouse Jen at mile...3? 

This race is crowded at the start, but I was close enough to the front to avoid most pushing and bumping. The whole first mile was just about finding my pace and my place. I wanted to run a 6:35, then run 6:28ish for the rest to hit my goal. It was a breezy day, but not as bad as last week's long run of tornado misery, so I just lowered my head and plowed forward. The mile beeped before I even realized we were racing, honestly - 6:34. "Perfect," I thought, and we moved to a less-windy part of the course. By now the crowds were thinning, but this race is large enough that you're always in a pack, and I saw some of my teammates ahead of me. Mile two flashed by in 6:25. "That was because the wind was blocked; I'll lose some time in this next windy mile," I thought. But mile three was also done in a flash - another 6:25. By now I had passed two women, but otherwise I was mostly surrounded by guys, and except for some high schoolers burning out, we were mostly keeping pace. I grabbed a water and kept trucking. So far, except for some annoying and persistent stomach issues that had been present pre-race anyway, I felt...fine. Oddly fine. In fact, when mile four beeped at 6:24, I realized that I should be picking up the pace. I had now closed in on two of my teammates. We started nearing Tad Gormley Stadium for the track finish, and here's where I messed up: the course has always entered at one end and turned left for a 300m track finish. So, while I pushed past one teammate, I then held steady instead of pushing ahead. We were close to the stadium, and I was planning to SPRINT that track! Except. The course had changed, and I didn't know it. Instead of going left, we turned right, and suddenly I realized that I had under 100m for my finish! Boo! But I sprinted like a mad woman, and finished in 32:12 chip time - eighth woman and a huge PR. I didn't catch my teammate, but we crossed at the exact same moment. My final mile was a 6:17, so I ran a nice negative-split race (although probably should have started speeding up in mile four). My average pace was 6:27, which means I was able to beat my goal; it also means that I'm kind of close to start considering a sub-40 10k, which requires 6:26 pace.

The only bad part of the day was that, during my cool down, my Garmin touchscreen froze. And this time I think it's gone for good. I tried every trick I know, but the screen won't respond. I'm calling Garmin support today, but if they can't advise me, I am out of warranty and will need a new one. Luckily, I bought this one with my American Express, which doubles the warranty on electronics, so I will actually get my money back!