Oly Trot 4 miles

I made a PR today!

Last year I ran in a local Turkey Trot called Oly Trot (because we live in Olympia...cool huh?) But instead of a 5k it's a 4 mile race.

A little detail I pretty much forget until I'm running and wondering WHY I haven't reached the finish line yet!

Last year I ran it in 33:35 with an average pace of 8:23 per mile. I placed 2nd in my age division.


It was slushy/snowy and SO FREAKING COLD!
32 degrees (Windchill 28) with light snow.

Olympia is right on the coast so we get the cold, cold wind coming off the ocean. I seriously thought my face was going to freeze off. It burned it was so cold.

So this year I was kind of happy it hadn't snowed and that it wasn't freezing. Only "kind of" because that meant more competition...
last year there were 323 Finishers.
The website didn't say how many registered and then wussed out because of the weather but there was at least one...*cough* * Cough* Jason * cough* *Cough*

THIS year I heard there were 700 runners registered and it showed in the finishing times.

I placed 3rd in my age division (30-35, thank goodness I'm not in Amy's!) with a finishing time of 29:44, with an average pace of 7:26 - I'm not sure because I forgot to turn stop my Garmin...again.

THIRD! I improved my pace by an entire minute per mile and dropped a place in the results. Talk about an increase in competition.

Crap. I just saw that there was an 11 year old who average a 7:13 pace last year. I feel lame.

I also managed to take a wrong turn 2 blocks from the finish line...DESPITE the fact that I've actually ran the course TWICE in the last two weeks. My only excuse it that I got total tunnel vision and was following the guy in front of me.

I ran about half way down the wrong block before we realized we had taken a wrong turn and had to turn around and get back on course. I had been busting my butt to stay in front of this one girl because she looked like she might be in my age group and she got in front of me because of my "awesome" sense of direction.

On the bright side I finally was able to pour on the speed at the finish:) I managed to get back in front of my unsuspecting competition and even held onto the lead...until she caught sight of the finish line:) Then SHE poured on the speed!

Good news! She wasn't in my age division she was in Amy's :) Amy beat her for me.

I did have a case of the "gag's" at the finish line. I think the helpers were afraid I was going to hurl on them...maybe it was a reasonable fear...I WAS gagging a bit.
On a aide note...WHY can't I get more awesome race photos like this one?

My friend Nick took it at the last Club Oly Xcountry 5k and I LOVE IT! This is a photo I would totally pay for. I look happy, I actually look like I'm running and not walking:) LOVE IT!