Leaps Of Faith: {Turkey} Trotting to Confidence

As my coach always say, physical confidence leads to mental confidence, and my confidence is building.

One of my all time favorite holiday/running traditions is the Turkey Trot. What better way to start the holiday than to get in a few miles {2 or 8} with friends & family!? I love seeing all of the families who come out for the occasion, and its great to see so many familiar faces on the course. This is never a race I train and taper for, but no matter where I am at in my running/training cycle, I always get out there for some fun!

One year we dressed up.

Last year I ran with a 10 year old! {Amazing experience}

This year I set out to test my fitness.

I've been putting in the miles...multiple easy runs a week, speed & tempo workouts, all topped off with a long run over the weekend. My paces are dropping and my endurance & confidence are building. I am really loving running these days!

I didn't really have a goal per se for the run, or even a race plan, but ideally I wanted to come in at sub 8:30s, and negative split!

With the temperature in the low 20s, Mark, Jen and I bundled up and headed to the race.

It was honestly so cold, it took everything is us to even get in a warm-up run...but we managed to get out there for a few minutes before heading back to comfort of the warm building. Literally I was chilled to the bones, but I knew I would warm up once we started running, so I didn't want to overdress.

The gun went off, and we were off and running! At one point I commented to Mark that if my feet didn't thaw, I wasn't sure I would make it...they were painfully frozen! After the first mile {I think everyone took off so fast mainly to warm-up}, I dialed us in to a smooth pace, with the goal to kick-it in the second half:

Mile 1: 8:18.41

Mile 2: 8:25.11

Mile 3: 8:30.71

Mile 4: 8:27.72

We rolled into the half, already at sub 8:30s, and I definitely had more left in the tank. After the turn around it was game on. I slowly started picking up the pace, and I quickly realized I quite surprisingly had a lot left. The last two races we have ran, Mark and I have been neck & neck with a guy who I have named Chicken Legs...he's a fabulous older gentleman who wears shorty short shorts, and has, you guessed it, chicken legs. He is the nicest guy, but always seems to take us...but not today! I rolled up on him around mile 5, chatted for a second and then went on my way!

Mile 5: 8:15.88

I continued to pass people and then around mile 6.5 I saw my dad's friend & running partner, who he told me I needed to beat, up ahead, and I knew I could catch him. I came up on him around mile 7, and thought in my head to back off a tad so I had enough to really kick it in at the end {it's funny how your mind creates this doubt}, but as I rolled through mile 7, I knew I could maintain, so to the finish I pressed.

It was a running euphoria.

I had a huge grin on my face as I made my way to the finish. My training consistency was paying off.

Mile 6: 7:47.97

Mile 7: 7:20.47

Mile 8: 7:24.55

8 miles, 8:04/mile, 1:04.34

*over a 6 minute PR