Thundercloud Subs 5-Mile Turkey Trot

I love this time of year as it seems like there are a wide variety of road races to run every weekend. I had been debating which one to run for a while, and a few weeks ago I decided to run the Thundercloud Subs 5-Mile Turkey Trot in Austin while I was home visiting my mom.

My lead up to the race was pretty normal. I didn't back off my training any and I was really feeling that the last few days prior to the race. My legs have been a little sluggish and unresponsive due to the consistent 60+ mile weeks I've been logging. I didn't feel any different in my warm up Thursday morning, but that's the way it goes some times.

There were over 14,000 people registered for the race (not all ran 5-miles or were timed) and it looked like it at the start line. I made sure to get close to the start so that I would spend the first 1.5-miles weaving in and out of slower runners. I probably started a little too close to that start as I was passed immediately by a slew of runners, but about 800m into the race I found myself running with a group that was running about the pace I was looking to maintain. I hit the first mile in 6:43, a little slow for what I was hoping for, but there was a serious climb in the first mile. I didn't see any mile markers the rest of the way, but I was I had. All I know is that I ran my last 4 miles in 26:08 (6:32/mile) for a total time of 32:51 (6:34/mile). My ambitious goal was to run under 32:30, but I thought that would be a bit out of my range, especially considering the hills on the course (steep hills!) and how my legs had been feeling. My realistic goal was to run under 33:00, which I did. After the race I ran the entire course backwards with a friend to get in a little over 12-miles total for the day.

I was....
*121st overall finisher (out of 2857 timed finishers)
*113th male finisher (out 1556 timed male finishers)
*18th in my age group (out of 171 timed male 25-29 yr old finishers)