10K PR - 36:24

Just got back from Michigan where I ran in the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot yesterday. I ran a masters PR of 36:24 and was first master and 8th overall. In case you're wondering, Ann Arbor has their turkey day race early because they don't want to compete with the big race in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. Anyway, this was my first race as a 43-year-old (my birthday was Friday) and my first race wearing the Team Good River colors so I wanted to do really well. Going into the race I was feeling a little beaten up as work has been very hectic the last 2-3 weeks. During this time period I did less overall volume that I wanted to, but made sure that I was fresh for my key workouts. Kind of a Bowerman/Kenny Moore strategy if you will.

Conditions for the race were pretty ideal, maybe a tad too cold and windy at 40F but no complaints. I took out the first mile pretty conservative in 6:09 and felt great so I decided it was a good time to gun after all the folks who were already rigging. The second mile had a nice downhill portion and I hit that in 5:42 -- perhaps a little too fast -- but I felt very good rolling into the 2 mile at 11:51. The third mile was a little up hill so I settled into a nice groove that I thought I could hold for the rest of the race. I caught a lot of people on this mile and hit 3 miles in 17:42 and 5K at 18:20 on the nose. It was nice that they had a 5K marker -- races don't always have this. I felt strong here and up ahead I saw a high school kid who looked like he was slowing down so I focused on him and tried to maintain pace. I hit 4 miles in 23:30 and soon after I caught him. We fought it out through the 5 mile mark (29:20) but soon after that he pulled away and ended up running 36:10 to my 36:24. I couldn't feel too bad about it as I think he ran the typical high school race of going out really hard, resting in the middle and then finishing with a huge kick at the end. Speaking off another kid came out of nowhere and ran me down in the last straightway and finished in the same time as me. After the race the kid asked me what age group I was in and I said I'm 43! He was like, oh I'm 16!

Fun race and I'm really psyched to run a big masters 10K PR. My previous best was 37:27 at this race last year. I feel like I'm ending my season on a nice roll with my 5K PR 2 weeks ago (17:22) and now this race. Hopefully I can maintain this fitness through club nationals XC.

I'd also like to give a shout out to my BMLC brother Stephen Magee who ran a masters PR of 37:31 and less than an hour came back to gut out an 18:41 5K to finish 6th overall in the Iron Turkey Division (combined 10K/5K race times). I did the Iron Turkey last year and vowed never to do it again. I think Stephen probably feels the same! His girlfriend Jennifer Kirk was second in her age group in the 10K -- her first race after running a marathon PR in the far-from-ideal-conditions in Chicago. Our other BMLC brother Tom Sisson ran a solid 10K in 38:45 -- impressive considering he was on antibiotics and pulled his hamstring less than halfway into the race.