I wasn't going to do it. I signed up only because I was already there. I'm almost certain that I would have slept through the whole race if it wasn't for one of my runners whom I was able to convince to run the turkey trot 10k. And since I was in the middle of it I figured I might as well give it a try and test myself. I had not been running for almost three months by then. Not a single mile. I knew my knee wasn't ready and that it probably won't heal on it's own.
So I signed up. 10k. That distance had been a no-brainer in the past. But on turkey day it was a lot more difficult than in the recent years. Shortly after the start I found myself running along with Levi Sether. last year's runner-up. He had just finished his XC season so I figured it would be a pretty tight race. Up until the second marker it was a tie. Then, within seconds, I found myself seconds ahead of Levi. I figured that now or never and changed rhythm to add more time in him. At the turn-around I glanced at the watch and it seemed that I had already a good 40" lead on him. That sort of satisfied me but the race was just getting ugly. At the 5k turn-around I started wheezing pretty loud and the walkers didn't make my life much easier, either. The last mile of the race was the longest. I kept looking back to make sure that my first place was not in danger but couldn't really tell because of those hundreds finishing their 5k. At the finish line I had to kick with the shorter-distance racers and wasn't mentioned- as far as I remember.
My runner had his knee flared up and had to walk parts of the race. He looked strong at halfway though, as I ran past him.
Here is the link with the results..
http://www.mtecresults.com/race/show/584#
