Best Thanksgiving Weekend Ever

I had a very productive 4 day weekend this Thanksgiving. Filled with running, riding, racing and meeting one of my favorite triathletes.

It started off with a great 22 mile run on Thanksgiving. I had no guilt whatsoever about eating on Thanksgiving. The run itself went really well. I picked a hilly route again. It had more hills than last weeks 21 miler and I did this one a little quicker and felt much better after.
On Friday, I ran 12 miles. Jason wanted me to do back to back long/medium long runs to prep for next weekend and the 12HR race. I ran this in my Eves and it was a very pleasant run. My feet and legs were fine. :) I didn't eat before this run and took it easy to get some nice fat burning time in.

On Saturday, I ran the San Dimas Turkey Trot 10K. This was my 3rd year running it and I wanted one last PR for 2011. I was hoping to do it in the 52-55 minute range. Jason asked me to aim for the higher end so I wouldn't toast my legs before next weekend. Knowing myself and how much I wanted a huge PR for this race, I decided to handicap myself and ride over there. I thought it was 13 miles there but forgot it was on the south side of the lake so it ended up being 16 miles to the race start. Oops. :)

Once there, I got my bib and goody bag and then locked up my bike. I downed a Peanut Butter Gu and then did a 1 mile warm up. The race went off right on schedule. The 5K and 10K started together so it was a little crowded at the start but then the 5K split off almost immediately so it thinned out.

The race is on a hilly course and it starts off with a hill right off the bat. I looked at my garmin and saw I was going about 8:30 and decided to back off a little. Once we are at the top of the hill, we have a nice sweeping downhill until mile we started the 3rd mile. Mile 3 is mostly dirt and included a stream crossing. There wasn't much water so it took 2 big steps to get thru it. The last 3 miles had a more hills but they weren't too bad. I felt good all the way thru and let myself pick it up in the last mile. I passed a couple of people and then I reeled in a woman but then she decided she was going to pass me back. I let her go which was really hard.

I crossed the line in 54:57 per my Garmin, got my medal & some water, and waited for the results to post. When they did, it said my time was 55:02 and I was teeny bit disappointed...it was a PR but I'd really wanted to break 55 minutes! Funny how 2 seconds can make you go from happy to disappointed. Crazy runners, eh? Or is it just me?

On the way home, I lectured myself about being disappointed. I reminded myself that I beat last year's time by almost a minute and that I'd done that AFTER running 22 miles on Thursday, 12 miles on Friday, riding to the race, running with a calorie deficit for the week, and with temps about 30 degrees warmer than last year. Those things proved that I am a much stronger runner than I was last year and I am very, very happy about that. But surprise...when I checked the results on Saturday night, my official chip time was 54:55 (the 55:02 had been gun time). I did break 55! Woo! Yeah, I'm nuts. What can I say. :) These are the splits & elevation from the 10K:
Oh yeah, I also completed one of my goals for 2011 on the way home. I hit 6003 miles for the year on Saturday! I reached my goal a whole month early. Not bad, eh?

Finally, on Sunday, I did an easy 4 miles in the morning and then rode back over to Bonelli to watch the San Dimas Turkey Tri. Macca was racing it and he was going to do a book signing after. I bought his book but I bought it on my Kindle so instead I took my bib with me from Saturday's race. Macca won! Of course. It was so fun to watch him swim, bike, and run. Totally amazing. He makes it look so easy and effortless. When he finished, I got to meet him and he signed my bib (and asked me how I did on Saturday and congratulated me on my PR!) and I took a picture with him!
Can I just say...Oh.My.God! I cannot believe I met Macca! I felt like a teenage girl meeting her idol. All the way home on my bike, I kept saying ohmygodohmygodohmygod!

This was a seriously stellar weekend!!! I couldn't have asked for a better running weekend. :)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!