5 Things I’m Wondering About My Next 5K
Hello! Welcome to Day 16 of NaBloPoMo. Please slow down, November- I don’t want you to go by so fast! Before we know it, it will be Thanksgiving… and time for the Turkey Trot! Yay! Between the pandemic and various injuries, I haven’t run a race in two years. I’ll be running the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, and while I’m excited, I’m also wondering a few things… 1. I’m wondering, what is the meaning of this email? Why does it say the race is on WEDNESDAY??? We’ve run this race many times, and it’s always on Thanksgiving Day, the way a Turkey Trot is supposed to be! My husband and I did a little sleuthing, and confirmed that yes, the race is on Thanksgiving as always. Not sure why they sent this… maybe just wanted to see if we were paying attention. 2. I’m wondering what my pace will be. Oh God. It’s going to be painful. Not running the race, but seeing my time. It has the potential to be my slowest 5K ever, possibly only rivaled by the race I ran while pregnant with my son. After a year and a half of dealing with my foot, I just can’t get any speed going. I’m resigned to the fact that I’ll check my ego at the door, and enjoy being out there. Last year I couldn’t run it (because of my foot) and running a slow race won’t be as painful as sitting home was. I’ll just embrace the “trot” part of “Turkey Trot.” 3. I’m wondering what the weather will be like. Like every runner before a race, I’m wondering about the weather. November is a transitional month for us- it could be cool and beautiful, or it could be warm and humid. Let’s just have a look ahead… 55 degrees would be incredible. I could even run a little faster and salvage a little of my pride. 72 would not be as ideal. All I can do is wait, and hope. 4. I wonder what I’ll wear. Every year I threaten to wear some sort of Tofurkey hat, or a tofu costume or something. Just to balance out all the Turkey apparel we’ll be seeing. Strangely, they don’t sell such items so I would have to make it myself. The problem is, I’m not that crafty. But can you imagine me running dressed as a big block of tofu? Here’s what a quick google search turned up: There’s also this: It’s probably too late to get the shirt in time. Well, if I run in a tofu costume I’ll have an excuse for running slowly, right? Ha ha… we’ll see. 5. I wonder if anyone will be wearing masks. Florida is so weird. Twice during the pandemic we had the highest number of Covid cases in the country, and now we have the lowest (probably because everyone’s already had it.) People are still arguing over masks, and whether or not there’s really a pandemic (I know.) I don’t expect to see many masks at the race, and that’s okay. We’ll be outside. Our family has been vaccinated, and then I feel like my husband kind of Covid-proofed our house this summer by getting Covid (after he had been vaccinated) and exposing us all to it. I’m not too worried. Are you running a Turkey Trot? Do you ever run in a costume?