Turkey Trot or You're Fatter When You're Pink

A million years ago, my daughter had a Winnie The Pooh movie where Pooh Bear spends the entire movie trying to remember what Christopher Robin told him. The answer was "You're smarter than you think", but he always came up with crazy renditions like "you're stronger when you're pink". So what does this have to do with my running, you might ask? Everything. I, apparently, am fatter when I'm pink. That is the way I have come to remember one of the two very valuable lessons learned at my Turkey Trot on Thursday morning.

Thursday morning was bitterly cold in Northern Virginia. I don't know how cold, but while I was out warming up for the race (a misnomer if ever there was one) my toes got so cold they were aching, my lips quite literally went numb, and my hands were frozen inside my gloves. Not being one to quit, despite whatever this injury is that seems to be plaguing my existence, to the starting line I trudged. The race director very helpfully informed us that the "people in competitive mode" should move to the front, the walkers and stragglers to the back. I went to what I thought was the middle... or middle towards the back. OMG!!! I got stuck! We started out with one lap around a track. Easy enough, except that I couldn't get through the old women and little kids who seemed to be everywhere. It took me FOREVER to break away and actually run. Yep, I am fatter when I'm pink... or in plain English, in a shock to my system, I discovered that I am faster than I think. Major lesson #1 learned.

It was largely a trail run, very hilly, with a metal bridge and grass throuwn in for good measure, plus concrete. A major mix and a tough course. So I cross the finish and am handed a card which tells me that I am #140 and asks ME to fill in my name, age, gender and TIME... umm, okay. What the heck was my time? So I start asking everyone in sight. Apparently my time was shouted at me as I crossed the finish. This would have been nice to know in advance so I could have removed my ear buds!!! I have NO idea what my official time was. I know what songs I ran to and approximately where I stopped. I went on iTunes for run times and added them together, then added a some time for turning it on, lag time between songs and still think that I probably PR'd. The run time alone was about 26:54. I am slightly distraught. I emailed the race director. Hopefully he can give me a time. It is driving me crazy. Life lesson learned. ALWAYS take out your earbuds at the finish!