TTmTT (my season finale) -- Sun. November 25

Almost December: this Tough Ten Mile Turkey Trot is the last run of the year before three months of plain training (and working on 5 and 10ks). Got up and away towards Boston in good time (6:45 ish), but then a phone call as I drove along the Pike -- Ivan not feeling good, so I'd be a solo entrant. Too bad; I really enjoy a run much more with company. He has the darndest luck, it seems. Hopefully the snowstorms will bring a change there, and we'll do a few together. Anyhoo, drove on and found the place with only one missed turn (thank you, Google maps; having been there last year helped too).

I was early, but once I'd turned in my 10 cans (it's a food drive run) and written my registration slip/finishing sticker, I had just nice time to do a mile or so warming up and then strip down to shorts and a two-layered top (with hat and gloves -- the breeze was chilly, though the sun was pleasant) and head to the start, via the nice warm loo block. . . Oops, did I leave my keys in there? Check - no. Of course, they're in the car. Argh. Not good. No phone to call AAA, and no number or card either--everything's in the car. But no time to think on that: there's a race to run!

After the race I borrowed a phone and after one failed attempt got a triple A service truck to come. It was *cold* waiting, and it took them 30-40 minutes, but he broke into the car without doing any damage and I was good to go. *grateful*
I was aiming for a slowed start, taking it easy for three miles, hopefully. I figured I'd then have enough juice for 7 miles of real running. Wrong on both counts: I didn't sprint off or chase anyone (the second placed female runner was going a comfortable pace but just above my mandated "less than 9 mph" so I didn't try to stay with her), but even so my first three miles were all sub-sevens. It still felt comfortable and quite slow. Then when I figured I'd take the brakes off, I found I was tiring, and it was an enormous effort to maintain any decent speed. After a while I was able to pick up a bit, though having noone nearby was the usual problem -- at least I had a couple of runners in sight most of the time, 30-40 seconds ahead. When it came to the long uphill I felt tired but figured I'd plod on, and by the top the two runners in front of me had switched positions, the guy overtaking the woman (who was the same one mentioned above). I used the rest of the run, a mile or so, to try and close on her, but she was pushing hard too, and we stayed about the same relatively. I came in 11th, fifteen seconds behind her. Here's the basic stats:

Time: 1:07:41
Distance: 10 miles (GPS give 9.85; this is not a USATF certified course)
Speed: 8.86 (or 8.74)

Comments: a pace of a bit slower than 6:45, however you look at it. First for my age group, which is always nice, if very relative (only 71 runners in all, so not a wide field). Overall, I felt initially a bit gloomy with the result, given how I should have improved over the year, but running the day before was not a great idea, and my training level is barely even subsistence at this point. Plus, when I went into the GPS and pulled up lap times from last year, the comparison was in fact very encouraging: for the last three laps, including the mile-long hill, I was even or ahead of last year, thus:

2006 = 7:33, 7:32, 5:49 and 2007 = 7:00, 7:32, 5:48.

So, plug away, I guess. Keep tryin'