Thursday, November 24, 2011

Yoo 219 - Race Recap: Houston Turkey Trot


"Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, engines pumping and thumping in time..."





"...she's going the distance!"

Of a 10k.  The Gregrunner and his familial counterparts and I celebrated the start of turkey day with an early-morning "trot" around the Galleria in Houston.

 

Anyone else think of something else when hearing the term "turkey trot"?

Yeah...

Don't worry though, this race is pre-pared for that too.  PLENTY of these:


It was kind of a mayhem-ish morning.  Hordes of people.  I don't do big races very often but they have this energy to them that makes running all the more exciting.  !

I mean, just look at this starting line!


Wait, just kidding.  This was my real perspective from the starting line:


I was wa-haaay in the back.  And then some.  But guess who was back there with me??

I'm kind of embarrassed to post this because it's, I think, the most creeper photo I've ever taken, but...


...??!!  Ok, I know no one else is going to know who this is or be excited about it, but, um, I'm 1000% sure that's Sandy Magnus.  As in astronaut Sandy Magnus.  Space shuttle and ISS astronaut.  Flew on the shuttle's final flight.  Kind of one of the Kyoo's idols.  Just that.

I started right behind her!  If the rush of a thousand people elbowing and vying for running space wasn't getting me psyched, that sure was.

And, that wasn't the most creeper photo.  Because this one actually takes the cake:


Annnnnd I hope she never stumbles on this site because that would be kind of awkward.  But she's a busy person, so the chances of that are small, right?

Unless she's one of those people that googles their name for funsies every other day or so...but who does that?

.......

Awkward silence.

*cough*

Anyways, I thought it was so cool but it was one of those "cool" moments that really only yourself can enjoy because NO ONE ELSE understands that it's a cool moment!  A less effective cool moment, if you will.

Oh well.  We finally reached the starting line and she darted off around people in one direction and I ended up being pushed in another.

Naturally I didn't talk to her or introduce myself or anything.  First, I do not rock those situations.  Second, how do you randomly walk up to an astronaut like they're some kind of celebrity without looking like the world's biggest geek?

You don't.

You just creepily blog about it instead!

But the race itself was excitement!  Walls of jogging folk for the first 2 miles and then intermittent walls of jogging folk for the next 3.5 miles.  And then more walls of jogging folk for the last .7 miles when the 10k course joined with the 5k course.  I can be an aggressive runner though so it was all part of the challenge and I ran a personal best of (around) 46:36.  I paid for a chip time but something got messed up and I have to go by the running clock on my phone.

I gave it my all and was pleased.

And cold.  The 5k race started later so I had to wait a good 20 minutes for the Gregrunner after finishing.  And muh body just could NOT regulate temperature post-run.  I shivered for the next 2 hours.





But otha than that, it was a successful race.

And the Gregrunner ran the WHOLE 5k.  He's got two of them on his running resume now.  Smiles!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great day :-)


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