Savannah Turkey Trot

Happy Thanksgiving from Savannah, Georgia!

Last night we were lucky to have a wonderful, quick, and painless trip down from New York City. We left our apartment at 4pm for our 7:15 flight. The traffic was horrible due to the Midtown tunnel only allowing one lane of traffic. But, once we arrived at the airport we were through security in TEN minutes flat! I guess the moral of the story is that if you wait until the night before Thanksgiving to fly, you risk a cancelled flight but you benefit from the lack of travelers.

We were able to sit down at the new LaGuardia restaurant, Crust, for a quick beer and meal before our flight.

Overall, our experience at Crust was well worth the money. Priced in line with most New York brick oven pizza restaurants, it allowed us to sit and relax for an hour and a rest from the other stressed travelers.

Our flight was delayed an hour on the tarmac but by 10pm we were in my parent’s car heading towards the island and a warm, cozy bed. We needed our sleep because had big plans this morning: our first Turkey Trot!

A month ago I decided that it’d be really fun to participate in the Thanksgiving tradition of running a local Turkey Trot. After searching a few running databases, I found the 3rd Annual United Way Turkey Trot, sponsored by Fleet Feet Savannah and Critz BMW.

It was a cool Savannah morning, only 50 degrees, at 7:45 when we arrived at Daffin Park.

There was a crowd of around 1,000 people ready to enjoy a great quick 5k race. However, many of the participants, including Bo and me, arrived thinking the 5k started at 8am. To our surprise, the the Kids K started at 8am and then the Diaper Dash started at 8:15 followed by the 5k at 8:30. This meant that we spent about 30 minutes shivering, stretching, people watching and taking goofy pictures.

Yes, I was awake and excited while Bo was still a little tired and puffy eyed!

We watched the Kids K, which was pretty darn adorable!

After the kids and diapers finished, we lined up ready to get the party started.

There were no corrals at the start so it was a little hectic when the starting gun sounded. My goal for today’s race was to enjoy myself and hopefully PR. My previous PR was 28:49 back in July 2010 during the Percy Sutton Harlem 5k.

Other than my misunderstanding with the start time, I really can’t say anything negative about the 5k. The course was gorgeous and ran through some of historic midtown Savannah and Daffin Park.

The course was perfectly flat and other than the sharp corners, was easy to navigate.  There were mile markers after each mile with locals passing out water to runners. I was surprised how many people came out to cheer, especially along mile 2-3.

I knew that I wanted to PR and that if I didn’t start out fast, I’d risk the chance of not being able to speed up enough. My first mile was around an 8:55, mile 2 was around 9:10, and the final mile was approximately an 8:55 which helped me run through the finish at a 9:02 pace, a 13 second per mile improvement versus my previous 5k PR!!

Bo also rocked his first 5k back from injury, keeping an 8 minute pace! The only down fall to this small, local race is the lack of results. We didn’t stick around for the awards ceremony as we doubt we placed but I’d love to know my official time! I’m hoping they post them online tomorrow!

Now I’m ready to spend the rest of the day cooking in the kitchen with my mom and enjoying our families.

Happy Thanksgiving and please take time to thank each of your loved ones today.