Jenn and I completed the 2011 Black Friday Turkey Trot this morning. It was a good course, relatively flat and fast, and a well supported race. It was run by Fleet Feet and I extend a heartfelt “good job” to all the organizers and volunteers.
I say “relatively” on the flat course description because I live, train, and run in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, which are decidedly not flat. ((In fact, I found running the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco to be something of a let down; the hills were taller, but not harder.)) There are hills on this course, but most of them are gentle and gradual. There is one steep up and down over the railroad tracks which will get you if you don’t know how to maximize your efforts on hills like that, but that’s the only one. Unfortunately, you have to do it twice, because this course is a two-legged out and back, starting at 3rd and Denver, heading down 3rd past Kenosha where you turn around heading back up 3rd. You then make a right onto Detroit where you pop over the railroad tracks, go a bit, turn around and come back over the railroad, make a right back onto 3rd and head back to the start.
This is also one of the few race courses where you can stand back from the finish line about a quarter mile and legitimately shout, “It’s all down hill from here!” Let it be known that if you shout that phrase, and it’s not true, Dante has a special circle in Google Plus waiting just for you and I will hate you for the rest of your life. It is not all downhill if there is any uphill at all, and you don’t understand just how painful even a slight uphill can be at the end of a race. Don’t shout that phrase!
Jenn and I both enjoyed this race and would do it again. The wind was blustery, but hey, it’s Oklahoma. I think it was a wash at the end of the race because where we had a headwind on the way out, we had a tailwind on the way back (and vice versa, of course). I turned in about a 24:20 for the 5k, which was better than expected and Jenn did about a 29:45.
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