Mike and I were both excited to run in our third Turtle Trot! This race has been a consistent feature of our summer racing schedule because of what are probably predictable reasons by now - good food, raffles, you know the drill. This race also offers a heavyweight division but does ask you to jump on a scale, which I dutifully did but somehow failed to give the guy the rest of my info? Stranger still that he didn't ask for it... I'll come back to that, though. This race also has the benefits of being extremely close to our houses, very very flat, and gives away a Seven Springs weekend as the "grand prize" in the raffle. So I'm generally happy to come back to this one despite the fact that in previous years it had been unbearably hot and sunny (2015) and on the verge of a thunderstorm (2016).
A big rain shower passed through the night before and left us with absolutely perfect race conditions this year. It was in the low 60s, overcast, and not too humid. I told Mike, "This is PR weather" as we got out of the car. Unfortunately my weight has bounced up a bit and I'm about 25 pounds heavier than the last time I ran this race, so my expectations were tempered somewhat. I was still looking forward to everything else, though, so we collected our chips and shirts and did a little warmup run. My right hamstring was being a little grouchy but it felt like the kind of thing that would work itself out and I hoped it would do so pretty quickly.
This is another race that seems to have a lot of repeat runners, and fast ones, too - probably because the course is about as flat as you'll get in this part of Pennsylvania. Again we're running on gun time so I try to get kind of close to the front. Further back in the pack are a couple of Turtle Creek police officers in a fair amount of gear. If I can stay in front of them I'll be happy - they look like they're in good shape, but are also bogged down with big belts full of stuff and long pants.
We take off and I surprise myself again by hanging with the pack much better than I've been able to in the past. Mike is gone right away, of course, but one other lady and I seem to be pretty well-matched, and we run side-by-side pretending the other person isn't there until one of us starts to pull away a little bit and the other one reels her back in, at which point we go back to ignoring each other.
Instead of clocks, the race has people at the 1 and 2-mile marks telling you how long it's been since gun time when you pass them. I have my watch now but in other years this has been pretty handy. I've been ignoring it since I'm not expecting to be terribly competitive but am happy when I cross the first mile and a) it's under ten minutes (9:30) plus b) I haven't seen the leaders yet. It's an out-and-back course and they're hitting the 2-mile mark coming in the opposite direction not too long after I get there. There's a little traffic loop for the turnaround and I'm still hanging on with this other lady though it's getting tougher. I hear Mike shout my name as I head into the loop and give a "woo!" back. If we're that close, I'm doing all right.
Unfortunately this is about when I start to realize I'm going to have to let my "friend" go as I'm struggling harder and hard to keep up with her. My HR is up near 180 and I need to pull back a bit if I want to stay off the struggle bus for the last mile. So as we approach the 2-mile mark I let her go, but still manage to do the second mile in a respectable 9:44. I'm definitely feeling it now, and using all my best mind tricks to just keep plugging away. I know that I'm doing objectively better than the other two times I've run this, and that the last mile is flat and fast.
There's a woman who's definitely over six feet tall, who I notice when she passes me with about 3/4 mile to go. I realize that she might be in the heavyweight division! This becomes my motivation for the last mile and I stay about three to five paces behind her even when I want to slow down. As we split off for the final quarter mile from the start of the route, I start pushing, and with a couple hundred yards to go I find a kick, and push myself forward to pass her. There's a guy, probably in his thirties, and he's harder to catch but somehow I manage to do that too. Third mile, 10:03, and .1 at 9:10.
I'm actually trying not to puke so I immediately veer off and sit on a curb and stop my watch. Almost forgot again but I didn't let it go as long this time! Mike comes and finds me and says good job, and we sit for a bit while I regain my breath (and guts). We wander to the finish celebration area and snag some watermelon and a bagel, then briefly run to the car for a shoe change and so I can pick up my jacket - I know it's going to be chilly since I'm sweating and the sun's not out. We come back and check the raffles, which they draw while the runners are on the course instead of making us wait. This is the first time my ticket isn't drawn, but Mike gets a $5 Speedway gift card and he promises to buy me a donut as a consolation.
The results are posted so we go get in line for that and I'm super pleased with my time because I was right about the girl I passed at the finish... but realize I'm not listed in the heavyweight division, and in fact, she's the only one in the women's heavyweight at all! It occurs to me that the guy who I weighed in with didn't take any of my info... oops. I ask a race official and get directed to the timing truck, where they agree to put me in the division, but she reminds me that they only do top two in heavyweight (well, four - under 40 and over 40) - which I had interpreted as 'top male and female' but apparently is based on time outright. So even though I "won" the women's heavyweight division (all two of us)... no prize. Boo.
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| This is my "I am not impressed" face |
As a side note - this is a really dumb decision. The race organizers have been doing this for 25+ years and I doubt I'll be able to make them change their minds, but I'm probably going to at least send them an email about it. It's absolutely silly that doing it the way they do basically guarantees that a woman isn't going to ever be able to be recognized unless only one guy shows up to compete against her. The top 4 were all 27 minutes or faster, and the fastest woman was me at 30, and an additional 4 heavyweight guys were between me and them in finishing. That's about the only black mark I have for this race, so I'm likely to keep doing it, but I am a little disappointed.
Some good news, however - despite being in a new and more traditionally competitive age division (welcome to your thirties!), Mike got first in his age group, so I guess those guys all stayed home for this one. That meant that celebratory pizza was called for (ok, let's be honest there was always going to be pizza) and we went to Shelley Pie afterwards - what a monster! It was extremely delicious... and reminded me that with a fall race officially on the calendar, I gotta start watching what I cram in my face after a run again! The good news is that even though I'm up about 25 pounds from where I was at this race last year, I wast two seconds faster, which bodes well for this training cycle, or at least I hope so!
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| This is a freaking MEDIUM. A *sea* of cheese and pepperoni and worth every calorie! |
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