Turkey Day PR......ACCOMPLISHED!

I have one thing to be thankful for.....my ankle, who's getting stronger and stronger. It proved itself when I completed my 1st Turkey Trot today. It was awesome! The weather is very awesome and warm. I woke up this morning at 6:30 a.m. this morning and headed out at 7 a.m. to get out to Downtwon Minneapolis. I parked a little bit farther for FREE in a parking ramp than most of the runners, who chose to park near the Target Center (and had to PAY for parking. tee-hee!) The race was PACKED - over 8,000 people participated. It was CRAZY! I had my registration taken care of by 8:00 and headed to the start line. We started a little bit late, but I was at the FRONT of the pack (ok....near the front of the pack.) One thing I do NOT recommend doing is making a fool of yourself during the National Anthem by giving a shout-out during the 2nd to the last line ending at "in the land of the FREE"....and being the ONLY ONE going it. It's cool to do it during a baseball or football game, but NOT a 5K where you look like goof-ball. **blush** Unfortunately, they warned us of some glare ICE and wet on a small batch of wooden planks around mile 2. OH SHIT! It is BAD enough that I recovering from one injury I do not need another...PLEASE! Well, I was off with the pack. Everything felt very good and I moved at a comfortable pace. I reached at mile 1 at 9:40. Everything was very smooth. When I reached the point that they warned about, it was not that bad and it was not a SMALL batch. It was almost 0.25 miles along - geeez! LIARS! I reached at 19:53 (10:13 split). Plus I started feeling like a going slightly UPHILL - not good this right now. I was also starting to get tired and needed some more mental motivation....and NOW. I told myself that I was almost done and getting closer and closer to finish. Well, I finished strong at 30:37 - a PR by less than a minute. Whooohoo! I was hoping to go sub-30:00, but I said FUCK IT as I slowly got closer to the finish.

When I finished, I headed into the mess of a line to get my bag and race t-shirt. The race was not too bad, but the organization getting the shirt and stuff was BAD. Plus there was NO food for the racers like in other 5K's that I have done. Thank GOD that I had piece of my PB&J that I made left in my car and ate it quickly. Then I headed to Caribou Coffee, who I am also THANKFUL for being open, for a Chai Tea Latte and some Gingerbread. My ankle started to get sore so I took it home to enjoy. Once home, I went into the bathroom, filled a bucket full of ice cold water, and placed my foot and ankle in for 10 minutes. It was horrible at first, but once I was in there it brought a lot of relief as I checked e-mail and relaxed. Afterwards, I got ready for a shower before heading for a 2 hour nap. I headed to the in-laws for turkey and goodies. Tommorow and Saturday will be cross-training days to recover from the 5K. I will also be spending the rest of Friday, since I took a day-off and still get PAID, watching my beloved Colorado Buffalos do well against the Nebraska Cornhuskers along the other college football games. Beer and goodies with me. Today's workout 5K - run 30:37 - NEW PR!!! 9:51/mile - Whooooohoooo!