Thursday, November 22, 2007

Mesa Turkey Trot 2007

Mile 1052, Mesa, AZ - Another Personal Record bites the dust. I ran in the 2006 Mesa Turkey Trot last year and set a PR of 1:11:05. One year later I ran it again and finished around 1:07:59. 3 minutes and 6 seconds faster with a sore calf.

Here's the tee. I think it's pretty cool. We also got a $5 discount for Mi Amigo's Mexican Restaurant. I got to watch the start of the 1 mile and 2 mile races before my race started. Lots of folks running these races. I bet there were about 500 people for the 10k. The race was all on surface streets, asphalt with some dirt shoulders. I decided to rely on the water stops that were planned, so I didn't carry any water. This worked well and I never went thirsty. I had a gel around the 3.5 mile mark and that seemed to help. At the start it was pretty crowded, but I wanted to start slow and warm up my calf. Mile One split was 10:35, but there were times we were running around 11:30 shoulder to shoulder. I wanted to get my speed up like it was at Vegas last week. Mile two split was 9:57 and I was breathing good, but my legs felt tired. Mile three was my worst. The split was 11:58. There was 2 breaks during that mile. One for water and one for no obvious reason (that I can remember). Mile four's split was 11:18, so I was picking it up a bit, but I wanted to go faster. I tagged along with various runners that passed me, my unknowing pacers. Mile five was 11:33 with one break. Mile six was 10:20. I realized if I wanted to have a shot at a PR I better get it in gear. At the end you enter the park, the crowds pick up and you run along the lake. I passed a bunch of people and ran my fastest of the day, doing the last 2/10 of a mile in a split of 8:51.
This is the sweat shirt they gave out at the LV turkey trot last week. I really like it, but it's a medium. I can fit into now, but after it gets washed I think it will be too small. My wife, Amy has put dibs on it. Below is the data, if anyone is interested.




10 comments:

MNFirefly said...

Nice job, Pat!

Unknown said...

Now that is an awesome shirt there Pat. I love the sombrero.
Nice run too!

Dan Seifring aka "OBRATS" said...

Very nice shirt Pat and great job with the PR.

Irene said...

Congratulations on the new PR, Pat! You smashed that old time...

Gotta love the turkey shirt!

Happy Thanksgiving.

J~Mom said...

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! Congrats, Pat!! That is an awesome 10K time and a huge difference off of last year!!! Way to go!!!!!!!

Scott McMurtrey said...

great race pat! i love the mexican food discount. that's awesome. i wish races up here would do that. :(

Cheryl said...

Love that Mexican turkey shirt, Pat! Also the Vegas one. Congrats on the PR. You just keep getting better and better! Hope your leg gets better soon, too.

Jeff said...

Great race, Pat.

My favorite Mexican restaurant in Phoenix is the Tee Pee. One in the shadows of the BOB (or whatever you call in now) and the original in Scottsdale. Ooooh, those margaratias, chips and salsa!

Anonymous said...

Hi Pa, I am back in the UK ow

Nice to have met you at the Las Vegas Turkey Trot, as promised I've been checking out your blog . .

I'll be keeping track and when I am back in the USA maybe I'll see you again at a running event.

Take Care
Roland

Nancy said...

Love those shirts. I especially love putting dibs on the ones that get too small :D

Great splits and PR!!! You should be very proud of the progress.