Fit-to-Fat-to-Fit Blog: Turkey Day 8K

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving. On a day devoted to overindulging, I thought I’d go an run five miles with 800 of my closest friends.  At 7 a.m., I ran the Fleet Feet Jackson 3rd Annual Turkey Day 8K.

It was a very well organized race. Unfortunately, I did not pick up my packet yesterday and someone picked it up stole it for me. Therefore, I didn’t get a packet nor was able to be chip timed (although I did get a replacement number and a shirt).  So the time I report is from my watch.

We started in front of Fleet Feet on Highway 51 and ran north.  We ran down to the road that cuts over to Old Canton by the Madison airport.  From there, we ran south Old Canton, past three churches and Ross Barnett’s son’s house to the Natchez Trace.  There we picked up the Ridgeland Multipurpose Trail — a trail that I run every weekend anyway.  The course was mostly flat –except the part on the Ridgeland Trail. The next mile was uphill.  We then continued north on 51 back to Fleet Feet.

I started out the gate fast. I had a comfortable pace and looked down at my heart monitor — it was 160 beats per minute, which is a little high for me. But I felt strong. So I kept it up.  By the time I got to the last quarter mile, I poured on the gas. My heart rate rose to 180 bpm.  I still felt strong.

I finished strong at 45:30, a personal best for me.

Here are a few of the pics I tried to take along the way.

The Madison Airport as we turned onto Old Canton Road.

It’s blurry on the trail. I run without my glasses. Everything looks like this.

Running south on Old Canton Road into the fog.

Heading over the Trace. Runners behind me are in the distance.

Into the fog.