O’side Turkey Trot 5-Miler race report

Yesterday, for the second year in a row, we started Thanksgiving with the O’side Turkey Trot, a 5-mile and/or 5K race in Oceanside. Again, I ran the 5-miler and walked the 5K with my in-laws. My time for the 5-miler was three minutes faster than last year — I ran faster and I didn’t have to use the bathroom at mile 3.5!

Backing up to Monday, I didn’t go for a short run after all but Clark and I did go to the gym for a HIIT class.

Tuesday, I worked from home instead of going into the office like usual. In the late afternoon, I went for an easy run that felt anything but. I had side stitches and I had to use the bathroom. It was a struggle the whole way but I got in 5.1 miles at a 9:12/mile pace.

I also finally took a picture of this permanent metal sign on a utility pole along my route:

Wednesday, I worked from home again. In the early afternoon, while Clark was gone to pick up his parents from the airport, I ran 3.6 miles at a 9:04/mile pace. It felt MUCH easier than the run the day before had, thank God.

When he got back to the house with his parents, Clark and I finally went to the grocery store to do the shopping for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. I made a batch of pumpkin muffins, and then we all went to Oceanside to pick up our race packets for the next morning.

We had dinner at Blade 1936. I got gnocchi with marinara sauce, nothing complicated, so I was hoping I could get through the race without any bathroom stops, unlike last year.

We went to bed pretty early, since Clark’s parents were still on East Coast time, which was fine with me, since I had a 5:30 a.m. alarm set for the race.

Thursday morning, I felt pretty well rested when I got up. Better yet, I was able to use the bathroom before we even left the house! Love it when that happens.

We got to Oceanside with plenty of time to do a warm up. I ran about eight 10ths of a mile. Halfway through it, I was hit by the urge to go to the bathroom again. I was even happier to get No. 2 part two out of the way before I was on the clock!

And then it was race time. Clark’s parents decided to hang out in the car while we were running the 5-miler because it was a little chilly compared to last year. I was OK in my shorts and singlet once we got running (other than my hands, which never warmed up.)

There were just over 900 runners in the 5-miler. I placed myself near a sign for the 8:00/mile runners. I was hoping to pull off a 7:45/mile average.

We got the commands and we were off.

The first mile goes down Coast Highway, makes a U-turn and heads back toward the start line. I finished it in 7:23 — and my watch didn’t beep the end of it more than a 10th of a mile before I got to the mile marker, unlike last year, so that was a great start.

The second mile passed the start line and kept going down Coast Highway toward the harbor. I ran that one in 7:39.

The third mile had some solid downhill going down to the harbor, but also a little uphill leaving it on Pacific Street. I sped back up to a 7:25.

The fourth mile runs down the Strand and then hits the only “bad” uphill of the course, a ramp leading up to the pier. It’s short, but then there’s a longer, not as steep incline after it, leading from the pier back to Pacific Street. The fourth mile ends on that street. My split was 7:43 — slowest of the race and still under goal pace. And I hadn’t heard a peep from my digestive system! I was pretty confident I was going to blow last year’s race time out of the water.

The last mile goes down Pacific, takes a steep ramp down to the Strand and then finishes on it, near the pier.

This year, the race happened to coincide with a “king tide” in Oceanside, and the waves were crashing over the rocks, up onto the Strand. The spray was easy enough to avoid, and there were only a few puddles on the pavement just deep enough to dampen your shoes if you didn’t feel like weaving around them, which I didn’t.

The finish line seemed to take forever to reach. As I approached it, two young girls holding a ribbon — like the ones race winners break — stepped out across the finish line. I knew I definitely wasn’t anywhere close to the lead woman, but I didn’t see anyone else around me who looked like they were winning anything either. I didn’t know what to do so I just ran through it. I still don’t know what that was!

So glad the race photographer caught this haha!

Looking around to see if anyone was going to clue me in on what that was for. Nothing!

Anyway, my official finish time was 38:05 — a 7:37/mile average and three minutes faster than last year! That’s a lot closer to the times I used to run for the Masser 5-Miler and Dogfish Dash 8K (4.97 miles) every year in Delaware before we moved here. I guess track workouts are working!

That placed me third of 50 in the F 35-39 age group (my second age group award since moving here!), 26th of 441 women and 133rd of 904 total finishers.

Clark finished not long after me in 46:56 — also faster than he’d aimed for — and then we walked back to the car to get his parents for the 5K.

The 5K is a much bigger race, and we were planning to walk the whole thing, so we started in the 10th or 11th wave. I took some pictures along the way.

Walking down Coast Highway.

Mural on the side of a building.

Live band providing entertainment along the course.

The 5K course is about the same as the 5-miler, with a shortcut. We walked it in 1:02:16 — I was the 4,631st to finish out of 5,697 total.

We got our medals, and I got an extra one for my age group award in the 5-miler, plus a $20 gift certificate to Dick’s Sporting Goods, and then we got a group photo taken on the pier.

Another successful O’side Turkey Trot in the books!

We went home and started working on dinner — roast turkey, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and butternut squash with onions and pomegranate seeds, Stove Top (I like the cheap stuff better than homemade dressing), green beans with sliced almonds, cranberry jelly, fruit salad and pumpkin muffins. And of course, pie from the Village Pie Shoppe for dessert.

This morning, I ran an easy 5-miler at a 9:06/mile average, and then Clark’s parents suggested going to hike Lake Calaveras.

We warned them it wasn’t as flat and non-technical as trails on Delmarva, but they said they wanted to do the 5-mile loop with 700 feet of elevation gain. So that’s what we did.

Clark’s parents taking a breather in the shade on one of the uphills.

Inching their way down one of the steep downhills.

I guess I’ve never been here on such a clear day before, because I’d never noticed you can see one of the lagoons AND the ocean from here.

The second half was more downhill than up, finally!

We eventually finished the 5-mile loop — which ends on another steep uphill haha — in two hours and 16 minutes. I think Clark’s parents had enough hiking for the trip.

We went to Vista next and had lunch at Belching Beaver. And now we’re home. I think it’ll be an early night tonight.

They are here the rest of the weekend. I’m not sure exactly what our plans are, other than a light display we have tickets to see Sunday night, but I will probably meet the running group early tomorrow morning and go to Weekend Warriors, and I want to get in one last long run Sunday morning.