Oglesby Turkey Trot 3-miler
Thursday, November 23, 2017 9:00am
-22:04 (7:22 average pace per mile) *with Gabe in the stroller*
-1st out of 55 in 35-39 AG (interestingly, I would've been 4th of 50 in the 35-39M age group...see below*)
-10th out of 527 females
-82nd out of 997 overall
(My 20th race of the 2017 season)
(*If you look it up on the race's results page, I am still listed as a male! So, the stats look slightly different online but I swear I am not making them up :). Thanks, Mitch, for changing my gender for the awards when I noticed it was incorrect. HA!)
Previous Oglesby Turkey Trot Results:
2014 - 21:50 (7:17 average pace per mile/1st in 30-34 AG)
2015 - 23:09 (7:43 average pace per mile/2nd in 30-34 AG) *17 weeks, 6 days pregnant
2016 - 22:11 (7:24 average pace per mile/1st in 30-34 AG) *7 months postpartum, pushing stroller
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| Funny blast from the past - I ran this race two days after nearly chopping my finger off in a juicer three years ago in 2014. HAHA! |
The Oglesby Turkey Trot has become one of my favorite recurring races each season. Ok, I am realizing that I say this about many races - guess I am a creature of habit/sentimental/whatever you want to call it and just LOVE what I LOVE! Clint has helped Mitch sell merchandise for the shop at this event for many years - and I joined in on the fun in 2014 when Clint and I were first dating. I ran while Clint helped Mitch and had a great time. In 2015 I ran the race pregnant and wrote about it here.
Leading up to the race, I wasn't really sure what I would be able to pull off because of the KNEE situation. I know, I know...it's getting old. Get it taken care of, Rachel. But - TIME! Denial! All of that. I have been working on strength training and exercises specific to the patellar-femoral syndrome and stretching and definitely resting (HA!). Perhaps I need to just get thyself to a PT?! Anyway...if you are like "huh?" and for some reason desire an explanation of the knee thing, see HERE or HERE.
The morning of the race, we packed the car full of our Thanksgiving food/contributions to the Thanksgiving meal we would be having at my parents' later that day (cranberry sauce! brussels and sweet potatoes! chopped salad! crustless paleo pumpkin "pie"!) as well as all of our race gear (and that big ol' jogging stroller) and all the "stuff" we needed to spend two days and one night away from home. Somehow we did manage to leave by around 6:30am. UGH!
We hit the road and headed up 39. We got to the race site shortly after 7:30 and Clint got to work helping Mitch while I started the dance of going to the bathroom (hello pre-race nerves!) and keeping Gabe occupied in between (and during!) visits to the bathroom. Actually, I discovered that he can be very easily occupied by standing up in the bathroom stall next to me and watching videos of himself on my iPhone (and let's be honest, there is NO SHORTAGE of Gabe-videos on this mama's iPhone!)! Mom life is glamorous, let me tell you what. #wouldnttradeitthough
Before long, other race team members started filing into the rapidly-filling gymnasium where the race is held. I always like being at this race early to enjoy the "calm before the storm" - as runners and spectators start arriving, the place gets PACKED and NOISY! I love that our team uniform jackets are so bright - it's easy to spot one another in crowded places!
We took some pre-race pics and chatted a bit and then it was time for me to wrangle my Mini and get the stroller ready to go. Gabe and I headed out on our own little relaxed/slow1-mile warmup in the crisp/cold morning air (during which I made the non-shocking realization that my knee did still hurt. Would it go numb? Here's hoping!) and made our way over to the starting area.
Spoiler alert: this race report could be titled, "This Race Brought to you By Koo Koo Kangaroo and Pop See Ko" (if you don't know what those words mean, say a prayer of thanks) or "That time I pushed a stroller in a 3-mile race and had to keep awkwardly hitting play with my frozen fingers on my nearly-frozen and minimally-responsive iPhone screen so that it would pump out some tunes to distract my child from losing his mind."
Quick run-down of my splits:
Mile 1 - 7:01
Mile 2 - 7:18
Mile 3 - 7:44
Here's a #ProTip: these splits look exactly OPPOSITE of what a well-executed racing strategy would display.
As I usually do, I weaseled the stroller to the front-ish of the starting area while smiling and trying to look as non-threatening as possible (I know people aren't always super excited to see a stroller line up near the front and I do try to be conscientious). I found Holly-Rae and Amber and we all waited together until they sent us OFF! My first few strides let me know that, yeah, my knee still hurt. Not numb yet! OH WELL! Pain is temporary, right?
The beginning of the race was pretty congested with the large field, but I did my best to stay out of peoples' way as much as possible. There's a quick left turn and I made sure to stick to the most open-looking sections of the road while navigating my chariot. Gabe was content (for the moment!) as we made it through the first half mile or so. He started fussing a bit and I handed him an applesauce pouch, doing my best not to break stride. He ended up immediately throwing it overboard...as luck would have it, right in front of a police officer who was directing runners and cars. Awesome, Gabe! I then realized that maybe he didn't intentionally throw it but perhaps his fingers were too cold to keep a grip on it. Great. I then cursed myself for not putting gloves on my poor boy - my thought process was to not put gloves on because he might not keep them on anyway, and plus he wouldn't be able to use his fingers successfully to eat snacks if he had the gloves on. So, at this point Gabe is making it known to me (and anyone nearby) that he is displeased with his current lot in life. Well - seeing as the kiddo can't really communicate thoughts and feelings in a precise manner, it's hard to tell if he is just a) pissed about being in the stroller in general, b) pissed that it is cold and his poor fingers don't work, c) pissed that he dropped his yummy snack, d) pissed because he wants his Dada, e) pissed because the sky is blue...WHO KNOWS?! (For the record - this is one of the reasons that I am passionate about my job as a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist. Helping kiddos become successful communicators and helping parents learn how to best help their children communicate is my JAM. But, that doesn't mean I've been able to help my own 19-month old figure it out yet! :))
So my brain starts going a million miles a minute. I am mad at myself for not putting the cover (the "bubble" aka weather shield) on the stroller to keep at least part of the cold out. I am mad at myself for not having Gabe at least start out with gloves on. I am mad (irrationally, yes) at Gabe that he won't keep his presumably cold fingers under the cozy-fluffy bunting that is provided for him in the stroller. I am mad at myself for thinking running with the stroller is a good idea. Blah blah blah. Snacks aren't an option. Quitting isn't really an option (I was nearing the 1-mile mark at this point and it would take only slightly less time to go back to the start than just finishing up the race). Music. Music, that'll work!
So, I fumble for my iPhone that is hanging out in the cupholder on the handlebar of the stroller. My fingers are FREEZING so this process takes what feels like an eternity. Somehow, I get the screen to unlock after a few unsuccessful tries and somehow I navigate to YouTube and type in POP SEE KO, one of Gabe's current faves. Oh crap, phone is on mute. I clumsily get things playing audibly while trying to vocally comfort Gabey-boo (who is basically sobbing at this point) and somewhere around this, Mile 1 beeps in 7:01. Great. Who cares?!
The rest of the race is basically a battle of getting my cold fingers to work with my cold iPhone screen to keep the tunes pumping out. Gabe is in an in-between state of unrest for much of the next mile. We see Paul come up behind us on the BIG back hill and I plead with him to pull us up. He laughs in my face and keeps going. Just kidding. Paul would never do that...but he didn't exactly stop to pull us along, either! Sigh......
As we near the finish, Gabe. Is. DONE. No amount of "My hands are high my feet are low and THIS is how I Pop See Ko," will distract him now. I do my best to bring it home in some sort of strong fashion, but I am exhausted.
I cross the finish line in 22:04 which is 7 seconds faster than last year (also run with the stroller - at 7 months post-partum). I cheer Holly-Rae, Amber, and Carol through (each crosses in quick succession!) and then quickly make our way inside to get Gabe to the warmth. We check in with Clint and I show him my watch (I hadn't even looked at my time until that point) and then head back out to the car to put the blasted stroller away and to get Gabe's carrier. Once he was snuggled up against me, he finally calmed down - I really do think he was just cold.
Lesson learned - use the weather shield when it is cold, mama! Just do it!! The darn thing makes the stroller even more brick-like, but it's WORTH IT when compared to the alternative of having a cold, sad Gabey!
After Gabe was snuggled up in the carrier, we went back outside to find Holly-Rae and the rest of her family who were all doing the race together (after crossing herself, Holly-Rae went back out on the course to run in with her family). We snapped a few pictures and cheered them in as they finished! So awesome to witness this family action!!
We headed back into the gym and found our people...Gabe was excited to hang out with Gracie and John and Sophia for a while.
As we checked the results I learned that I was entered into the system as a man. HA! Not the first time that this had happened at this race for me (and, as it turns out, would happen to me again a few days later at FOLEPI! Maybe someone is trying to tell me something....), but Mitch was able to correct things so that I was figured in for awards. I was excited to actually earn 1st in the 35-39 female age group!
After helping to clean things up for a while, we hit the road and headed to my parents' house about an hour north for our Thanksgiving festivities. Clint went for a run while I helped my mom and sister prep food. In addition to celebrating Thanksgiving, we also celebrated our sweet niece Macy's 5th birthday!
The morning of the race, we packed the car full of our Thanksgiving food/contributions to the Thanksgiving meal we would be having at my parents' later that day (cranberry sauce! brussels and sweet potatoes! chopped salad! crustless paleo pumpkin "pie"!) as well as all of our race gear (and that big ol' jogging stroller) and all the "stuff" we needed to spend two days and one night away from home. Somehow we did manage to leave by around 6:30am. UGH!
We hit the road and headed up 39. We got to the race site shortly after 7:30 and Clint got to work helping Mitch while I started the dance of going to the bathroom (hello pre-race nerves!) and keeping Gabe occupied in between (and during!) visits to the bathroom. Actually, I discovered that he can be very easily occupied by standing up in the bathroom stall next to me and watching videos of himself on my iPhone (and let's be honest, there is NO SHORTAGE of Gabe-videos on this mama's iPhone!)! Mom life is glamorous, let me tell you what. #wouldnttradeitthough
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| Helping Mama get her race number ready |
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| Keeping Daddy company for a bit as he worked |
We took some pre-race pics and chatted a bit and then it was time for me to wrangle my Mini and get the stroller ready to go. Gabe and I headed out on our own little relaxed/slow1-mile warmup in the crisp/cold morning air (during which I made the non-shocking realization that my knee did still hurt. Would it go numb? Here's hoping!) and made our way over to the starting area.
Spoiler alert: this race report could be titled, "This Race Brought to you By Koo Koo Kangaroo and Pop See Ko" (if you don't know what those words mean, say a prayer of thanks) or "That time I pushed a stroller in a 3-mile race and had to keep awkwardly hitting play with my frozen fingers on my nearly-frozen and minimally-responsive iPhone screen so that it would pump out some tunes to distract my child from losing his mind."
Quick run-down of my splits:
Mile 1 - 7:01
Mile 2 - 7:18
Mile 3 - 7:44
Here's a #ProTip: these splits look exactly OPPOSITE of what a well-executed racing strategy would display.
As I usually do, I weaseled the stroller to the front-ish of the starting area while smiling and trying to look as non-threatening as possible (I know people aren't always super excited to see a stroller line up near the front and I do try to be conscientious). I found Holly-Rae and Amber and we all waited together until they sent us OFF! My first few strides let me know that, yeah, my knee still hurt. Not numb yet! OH WELL! Pain is temporary, right?
The beginning of the race was pretty congested with the large field, but I did my best to stay out of peoples' way as much as possible. There's a quick left turn and I made sure to stick to the most open-looking sections of the road while navigating my chariot. Gabe was content (for the moment!) as we made it through the first half mile or so. He started fussing a bit and I handed him an applesauce pouch, doing my best not to break stride. He ended up immediately throwing it overboard...as luck would have it, right in front of a police officer who was directing runners and cars. Awesome, Gabe! I then realized that maybe he didn't intentionally throw it but perhaps his fingers were too cold to keep a grip on it. Great. I then cursed myself for not putting gloves on my poor boy - my thought process was to not put gloves on because he might not keep them on anyway, and plus he wouldn't be able to use his fingers successfully to eat snacks if he had the gloves on. So, at this point Gabe is making it known to me (and anyone nearby) that he is displeased with his current lot in life. Well - seeing as the kiddo can't really communicate thoughts and feelings in a precise manner, it's hard to tell if he is just a) pissed about being in the stroller in general, b) pissed that it is cold and his poor fingers don't work, c) pissed that he dropped his yummy snack, d) pissed because he wants his Dada, e) pissed because the sky is blue...WHO KNOWS?! (For the record - this is one of the reasons that I am passionate about my job as a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist. Helping kiddos become successful communicators and helping parents learn how to best help their children communicate is my JAM. But, that doesn't mean I've been able to help my own 19-month old figure it out yet! :))
So my brain starts going a million miles a minute. I am mad at myself for not putting the cover (the "bubble" aka weather shield) on the stroller to keep at least part of the cold out. I am mad at myself for not having Gabe at least start out with gloves on. I am mad (irrationally, yes) at Gabe that he won't keep his presumably cold fingers under the cozy-fluffy bunting that is provided for him in the stroller. I am mad at myself for thinking running with the stroller is a good idea. Blah blah blah. Snacks aren't an option. Quitting isn't really an option (I was nearing the 1-mile mark at this point and it would take only slightly less time to go back to the start than just finishing up the race). Music. Music, that'll work!
So, I fumble for my iPhone that is hanging out in the cupholder on the handlebar of the stroller. My fingers are FREEZING so this process takes what feels like an eternity. Somehow, I get the screen to unlock after a few unsuccessful tries and somehow I navigate to YouTube and type in POP SEE KO, one of Gabe's current faves. Oh crap, phone is on mute. I clumsily get things playing audibly while trying to vocally comfort Gabey-boo (who is basically sobbing at this point) and somewhere around this, Mile 1 beeps in 7:01. Great. Who cares?!
The rest of the race is basically a battle of getting my cold fingers to work with my cold iPhone screen to keep the tunes pumping out. Gabe is in an in-between state of unrest for much of the next mile. We see Paul come up behind us on the BIG back hill and I plead with him to pull us up. He laughs in my face and keeps going. Just kidding. Paul would never do that...but he didn't exactly stop to pull us along, either! Sigh......
As we near the finish, Gabe. Is. DONE. No amount of "My hands are high my feet are low and THIS is how I Pop See Ko," will distract him now. I do my best to bring it home in some sort of strong fashion, but I am exhausted.
I cross the finish line in 22:04 which is 7 seconds faster than last year (also run with the stroller - at 7 months post-partum). I cheer Holly-Rae, Amber, and Carol through (each crosses in quick succession!) and then quickly make our way inside to get Gabe to the warmth. We check in with Clint and I show him my watch (I hadn't even looked at my time until that point) and then head back out to the car to put the blasted stroller away and to get Gabe's carrier. Once he was snuggled up against me, he finally calmed down - I really do think he was just cold.
Lesson learned - use the weather shield when it is cold, mama! Just do it!! The darn thing makes the stroller even more brick-like, but it's WORTH IT when compared to the alternative of having a cold, sad Gabey!
After Gabe was snuggled up in the carrier, we went back outside to find Holly-Rae and the rest of her family who were all doing the race together (after crossing herself, Holly-Rae went back out on the course to run in with her family). We snapped a few pictures and cheered them in as they finished! So awesome to witness this family action!!
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| Holly-Rae! SEE!? Gracie is on someone's back!!! (HAHAHA - hilarious story behind this!) |
As we checked the results I learned that I was entered into the system as a man. HA! Not the first time that this had happened at this race for me (and, as it turns out, would happen to me again a few days later at FOLEPI! Maybe someone is trying to tell me something....), but Mitch was able to correct things so that I was figured in for awards. I was excited to actually earn 1st in the 35-39 female age group!
After helping to clean things up for a while, we hit the road and headed to my parents' house about an hour north for our Thanksgiving festivities. Clint went for a run while I helped my mom and sister prep food. In addition to celebrating Thanksgiving, we also celebrated our sweet niece Macy's 5th birthday!
THANK YOU, as always, to Mitch, Saucony (can't get enough of those FREEDOMS and hope to own the Liberties soon!), my team, Coach Clint, and Baby Gabey for the love/support/advice/friendship/camaraderie.
I am hoping to get it together to write a big year in review post. I did this in 2015 (check it out here if you want) and wish I would've done it in 2016! These kind of posts are kind of a fun "gift" to "future me" - I genuinely enjoy going back to read and remember where I came from. But, you know, that crap takes TIME! We'll see if I get around to it this year. In the meantime, I still need to finish up race reports for the other two races I have completed thus far (FOLEPI River Trail 4-miler and the BRRC 5k)...as well as any others I happen to hop in and do between now and the end of the year!
I am hoping to get it together to write a big year in review post. I did this in 2015 (check it out here if you want) and wish I would've done it in 2016! These kind of posts are kind of a fun "gift" to "future me" - I genuinely enjoy going back to read and remember where I came from. But, you know, that crap takes TIME! We'll see if I get around to it this year. In the meantime, I still need to finish up race reports for the other two races I have completed thus far (FOLEPI River Trail 4-miler and the BRRC 5k)...as well as any others I happen to hop in and do between now and the end of the year!
Happy December running, all! Here's to checking off our huge holiday "to-do" lists while maintaining our sanity, relationships, and fitness and finding ways to ENJOY and SAVOR along the way!
Funny bonus story:
At the end of the VERY long but VERY fun Thanksgiving day, I was STILL wearing my race kit, complete with arm warmers and number under a sweatshirt. Not even kidding - I went from the race to the drive to my parents' to Thanksgiving prep to Thanksgiving dinner to birthday celebrations for my niece to FINALLY a shower before bed! HA!
Funny bonus story:
At the end of the VERY long but VERY fun Thanksgiving day, I was STILL wearing my race kit, complete with arm warmers and number under a sweatshirt. Not even kidding - I went from the race to the drive to my parents' to Thanksgiving prep to Thanksgiving dinner to birthday celebrations for my niece to FINALLY a shower before bed! HA!
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