Sunday, November 27, 2016

Southern Oregon Runners Turkey Trot

Turkey Trotting has been a long standing tradition for our family. Sometimes the kids participate and some years it would be just the hubby and I. Since Southern Oregon Runners puts on a 2 mile run, we knew the kids would appreciate the shorter distance and we could make it a family fun run.

Things we appreciate about the races that Southern Oregon Runners put on: getting to show up 30 minutes prior to race start, the friendly peeps and the level of fun. This run was a record turn out with about 600 runners for the 2 mile and 250+ for the 8 mile run. This was far better than the 10,000 participant run we were used to in the Bay Area.

My husband was running with my oldest daughter who was in search of a 2 mile, sub 20 minute PR. My goal was to run with our youngest and get her to a 2 mile PR as well. One of her swim team buddies also showed up to run, so I had the task of trying to keep up with two 8 year olds who were out of the gate faster than I would have liked! Almost right away a young boy zig zagged right in front of me causing me trip on the back of his foot. I saved myself from a face plant but landed on my bad knee in a way that wasn't so great. Shortly after that as I was trying to keep up with the 8 year olds I saw my daughter and husband on the side of the course and my daughter was sobbing. A young boy (hmmm...) had tripped her from the rear, causing her shoe to come off and her to fall. Her hand was bleeding and she was trying to get her shoe back on. I stopped to make sure she was okay and told her she was strong and was going to be okay. I then left her with my husband and tried to catch up to those 8 year olds again. I hadn't planned on so much sprinting!

Shortly after Sydney passed me and looked pretty strong, I was hopeful that she could earn that PR she was looking for despite the mishap. The 8 year olds found a sort of aid station where there was no water in cups so the volunteer just gave them full bottles of water. Ugh, of course who do you think ended up carrying those bottles of water?? The Moms of course. I did make Kylie carry hers for a good 5 minutes as a lesson that you don't carry a water bottle during a race!

The rest of the race was uneventful, Kylie started to lose her motivation (too fast at the start) but I was watching the time on my watch and I knew she was going to have a big PR if she could just maintain her pace. Once we got close to the finish line I told her no more walk breaks, she had this in the bag. As soon as we rounded the last corner that girl kicked it into high gear and sprinted all the way in (leaving me in the dust).


As much as she said she couldn't do it, Kylie earned a 3 minute PR! When we got back and Sydney checked her results she had also earned a 3 minute PR coming in at 17:33 - way better than her goal! I can only imagine what time she would have run if she hadn't fell and had to stop to put her shoe back on!

It was a great day running with friends and this great community! We happily went home to start cooking and consuming way more calories than we burned!

A big thank you to SunRype for having me on their Ambassador Team this year! The bars were a huge hit with the crowd!