"Turkey Trot"-ting along the beach on Thanksgiving

Last week on Thanksgiving, I ran my first official 5K!  It was the Long Beach Turkey Trot and I ran with my brother and a few of my cousins.  It was so much fun!  I woke up around 7:30am, put on my black and pink Nike shorts and my pink long sleeve Nike top, ate half a banana and drank some water.  Here's me and my bro before the race:

My brother and I got there around 9am, 30 minutes before the race began, and tried to find my cousins.  There were so many people, and they said to meet them near the white tent.  Well, there were about 6 white tents (and over 5,000 people)!  I called them again and they said they were now next to a giant tree.  Luckily it’s mostly palm trees by the beach, so we easily spotted the only large non-palm tree and there they were!  We warmed up a little and decided to line up for the race to begin.


This race is so beautiful because it’s along the beach path, a path a I frequently run, so I was very familiar with it.  The gun went off and we were off!  Unfortunately there were so many people that the beginning of the race was so congested.  We walked for probably the first 2 minutes before we found a clearing and started running.  I was running with my brother, one of my cousins and her daughter.  My bro and I had a water bottle that I ended up carrying for the entire race (bad idea because the sound of water made me desperately have to pee at mile 2!)  Around the mile 1 marker, my brother and my cousin took off ahead, and I settled in at a nice easy pace. Around mile 2 I had to make a pit stop…darn that water bottle!  I hurried as quickly as I could and got back on the path to continue on with the race.  Now it’s starting to warm up…a lot!  I suppose I should have checked the hourly forecast before putting on my long sleeve because after looping around at mile 2 we all were running into the sun and it was blazing.  I ended up walking for about 5 minutes to try and cool down, and at that moment I was happy to take a little sip of water.  I was dying in my long sleeve.  Despite the 80 degree heat, I was still as happy as a little clam.  After all, it was my first official 5K!  I cooled down about during my 5 minute walk, and started an easy jog up a slight hill. The end was in sight!  I picked up my pace a little bit and pushed myself to keep going until I could reach the finish.  Well, turns out it was further than I thought, and I started to get a stitch in my side.  Again, darn that water!  I slowed and jogged while stretching my right side out and then continued on to the finish line!
Me, my brother and some of my cousins:

I’m very happy with my total time.  Especially considering my restroom break and walking and that it was my first race, I was thrilled!


My total time was 34:18.  Here are my splits:
Mile 1 – 10:26
Mile 2 – 12:11
Mile 3.1 – 11:40


I felt so good afterwards.  My brother won a pie too!  He finished in about 29 minutes, and one of my cousins, Nick, he smoked up all at 20 minutes!


Me and my bro with his pie:

This was a great way to start Thanksgiving Day.  After the race we all went home and showered, and reconvened back at my Aunt’s house for turkey and delicious-ness!  There were about 30 of us (we’re a big family, very close and very fun) and the table decorations were gorgeous (man my little cousin is sure talented…the centerpieces/theme was all her idea)!
Here is one of the beautiful Turkey Day centerpieces:

I am so thankful for my incredible family, my wonderful friends, my spectacular boyfriend (this was our third Turkey Day together!), my health, my job that I love, and so much more.  Life is great and I couldn’t be happier :)

xoxo