I had no goals for the Antelope Valley Turkey Trot, just to have fun. After my sciatic nerve injury, I was thankful to be able to run at all. So cliché, but true. Most of my miles have been between 10-12 minutes and I haven’t felt ready to run anything fast. I thought I could likely run slightly faster than that in a race environment. Since we were in town and just relaxing, I thought, why not. Plus, my husband has gotten into pretty good running shape lately so he was always looking for more races. I signed up for the Antelope Valley Turkey Trot 5k and he signed up for the 10k. When I say I really didn’t care about my time, I really did not. I was just happy to be able to run again.
Before the Antelope Valley Turkey Trot:
Since there are like two races a year in the desert, it feels exciting to do a race I didn’t have to get a hotel in LA for. We left our house at 6:15 and arrived just before 7. Picking up the bibs was uneventful and there was plenty of race swag. We warmed up about 2 miles. I honestly prefer something like 3-4 for a 5k, but I didn’t want to push it. I have felt tired all week (the joys of getting back into running shape) and I definitely did not feel good.
Antelope Valley Turkey Trot Race:
The Antelope Valley Turkey Trot 5k and 10k both start together. They run about a mile together before the 5k peels off. As we were starting, I found myself somewhere around 6th woman overall. I had no real concern and my race place didn’t mean too much for me. My goal was to feel comfortable.
The first mile of the Antelope Valley Turkey Trot 5k goes over a bridge. I think had I been pushing all out, that would have not felt great, but since I was just trying to run fast but not crazy, it was fine. I ended up running a 6:59 mile, which I was surprised about. I didn’t realize how fast I was actually running. I passed one woman on the bridge and continued down.
The next mile had a few turns in the neighborhood. I didn’t feel good or bad, just like I was running hard. My hip felt okay and I was pleasantly surprised by that. I passed a few high school boys and hit mile 2 of the Antelope Valley Turkey Trot 5k in 7:17.
Since I was feeling okay, I decided to push the last mile. We went back over the bridge and I could tell I was running pretty fast. I hit the third mile of the Antelope Valley Turkey Trot 5k in 7:00 exactly and I was even more shocked. I usually have regression 5ks, not having a faster/hillier third mile.
The last bit went towards the finish line and I could tell the course was going to be long. First, we hit the 3-mile split and then we hit the 6-mile sign. LOL, I hit the 6-mile sign at 3.1 and thought, I hope we don’t have .2 to go. I crossed the finish line in 22:50 and as the first woman overall.
Antelope Valley Turkey Trot Thoughts:
I’m happy with my time at the Antelope Valley Turkey Trot, considering I hadn’t run any paces remotely close to that in well over a month (it had to have been at the Long Beach 5k and half marathon). So it was a nice surprise. I won some fun Hoka gear which I could always use. I’m hoping this can start the new road to building to the Los Angeles Marathon in March.
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Questions for you:
Did you run a turkey trot?
How was your Thanksgiving?