I woke up Thanksgiving morning with the plan of getting down to the race area early—although they had two pre-race packet pick-ups, I opted for race day pick-up. The race is a 5K but I had a few more miles to get in on my training plan so I decided I would run them before the Turkey Trot. Arriving early would also help with parking since the race had limited parking available.
When I arrived to the park where the race was starting nothing was set-up yet. Cars were still being unloaded and I saw no sign of a start or finish line. I wasn’t too concerned because I was early and I had still had two miles to run before picking up my race packet. After running my two miles, they were still setting up even though it was past the time packet pick-up was supposed to start. This gave me time to go to my car for my Vega energizer and get a few stretches in. Once they were ready, I headed over and got my race packet. By this time, my friends running the race had shown up and we hung out until the race started.
By the time the race was ready to start, a start/finish line had been set up as well as the time mat. But there were not other indicators of a race course. They gave up the course directions during the pre-race announcements and then we were off. (I was a little surprised that there was no National Anthem as I’ve become accustomed to this at most races.)
The race course was on the walkway on the Coronado bay front with water views the entire course. I’ve run other races in Coronado and the beauty of the courses is definitely one of the perks. It was a double out and back course and did get congested at a few spots, but most people we courteous to the runners. Unfortunately the pathway wasn’t closed to the public so there were a few times where bicyclists were also on the course and made it even more congested. At each turn around spot, they had someone directing us were to go but this was the only course support during the race. Although in my training runs, I don’t carry water with me for any run less than five miles, I was a little surprised that there was not water on the course. This is the first 5K I’ve done that didn’t have at least one water station.
Once we were finished and received our medal, we were directed to tables that had bottles of water and fruit for us. It was “help yourself” style but I didn’t see anyone overtaking. The apples they had were delicious and it was a nice to have this post race treat instead of the typical bananas. (They had bananas too but the apple was definitely more refreshing.) They were having a post race raffle, but you had to be present to win and I wasn’t hanging out that long after the race.
This is the smallest race I’ve ever participated in. At one point, someone said there were 800 people registered but it certainly didn’t look like there were that many people there. There wasn’t a lot of extras, but the simplicity of it was nice. We learned in the pre-race announcements that all the swag and “workers” had been donated/volunteered so all of the race monies went to Rady’s Children’s Hospital (aside from the active.com fees). It was nice to participate in a race where all the monies were going to the cause. The views were spectacular and I had a good time, but I think this is a one-and-done race for me. There are so many Turkey Trots to choose from where I live I’d live to experience a new one next year.
Did you Turkey Trot this year? What’s the smallest race you’ve ever run?
Until next time, happy running.
Jenn13.1
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