On Thanksgiving morning I ran in the 20th Annual PNC YMCA Turkey Trot (Pittsburgh, PA).  The race was a cold and rainy.  From the moment I woke up in the morning, the rain came down and it came down hard at points.  I got to the race at 7:00am to help set up and get things ready.  The pre-race e-mails stated that 4300 people signed up to run.  When I first got there I was thinking we would be lucky to get 100 people.  Throughout the morning I saw people come in to register but not a significant number.  I helped set up the start and finish lines.  The first race of the morning to start was the 1 mile fun run.   Not many people showed.  At about quarter till nine (the start time of the 5K and 5 mile race) all these people started flocking to the start line.  I could not believe how many people showed up for the race.  The ran never really stopped.  At nine the race started and off I went.

My Dad came into Pittsburgh to visit and watch me run.  During the course of the morning my Dad was roped into helping set up for the Turkey Trot.  What a start to Thanksgiving.  He thought he was in for a relaxing two days and a calm morning watching his daughter run.  How was he suppose to know that clouds would open up and he would have to work.

I started my five mile race.  The course was tight and there was a lot of runners.  Like the beginning of a lot races the beginning of the Turkey Trot was a lot of jocking for position.  I started at the end of the line so I had a lot of weaving to do.  The course started at PNC Park (the baseball stadium).  We circle the  stadium and took a bridge into the city.  We ran through the north end of the city back over the bridge to PNC Park.  At the stadium the 5k and 5 mile race split and the 5 mile race went toward Heinz Field (football stadium) and the casino.  My outfit for the race was my running capris, gloves, running sweatshirt and a longsleeve Under Armour shirt.  During the run, I tossed my gloves.  My hands get warm easily and the gloves were soaked.  At first I was a little cold but as the race wore on I was warm.  Plus, my clothes were very heavy from all the rain.  I wanted to do was take my sweatshirt off but I knew that was not going to happen.

The race was tough especially with the conditions.  Throughout the race I kept trying to push my pace.  In the end, I finished just over 46 minutes.  I ran about a 9:20 pace.  That is a good pace for me.  I usually run about 9:30 to 10:00 minute miles.  I also felt okay at the end.  My knee was a little sore but not too bad.  I was so wet.  I could not believe it.

My Dad was able to see my pass by a couple of times.  The course doubled over itself a couple of times so there was a lot of opportunities to watch the runners.  He was lucky enough be under his umbrella.

After the race, I celebrated with a breakfast bagel.  After a nice shower it was on towards home for some great turkey.