York YMCA Turkey Trot Race Recap

So I ran a turkey trot yesterday. So original, right?! I was so excited to be running this race with my family and friends.

The race started at 9:00 and we only live about 10 minutes from the start line so it was nice to be able to sleep in some. We left our house at 7:45 so we could find parking and then hung out inside the YMCA to stay warm.

I met up with my friend Paige who I used to swim with. She is still swimming but is getting more into running. She ran her first 10K in September and will be running her first half marathon in Pittsburgh in May.

We chatted for awhile and then decided to part ways to head for the start line. My super fast cousin and his wife went out early for a warm up because they are hardcore runners. I am not.

My dad, boyfriend, and I went over to the start line and mingled with some other friends that I used to swim with. (The race was put on by the YMCA that my swim team is a part of so all the swimmers run the race).

My boyfriend and I left my dad to go a little closer to the start line, listened to the announcements and rules, and then we were off!

My boyfriend ran with me for the first couple minutes but wouldn't stop tickling me so I told him to run ahead of me. He is faster than me so he took off sprinting, never to be seen until the finish line.

My plan was to run a smart race and negative split it. The problem was that I wasn't sure what pace to start out at in order to still be able to PR and run negative splits.

Before I knew it it was the first mile, run in 8:41. I was pleased with this split and tried to pick up the pace a little, but soon after I started feeling dizzy.

The second mile had a few small hills. Nothing like Baltimore, but enough to slow me down some. I really wasn't feeling all there during this mile and I started to think my chances of PRing were going out the window.

I stopped to walk for about 10 seconds in hope that I would start feeling better and then was on my way. I did start feeling better but not much. I just felt like I wasn't fully aware what was going on. Not a good feeling.

Mile 2 came in at 8:49. I was disappointed that I had slowed down but it wasn't that much so I hung on that little bit of hope I still had.

Mile 3 felt much better. It was run on a trail that was too narrow to really pass people, which was frustrating, but I love the trail anyway. It was a great feeling knowing exactly where I was and that I was almost done.

Mile three flew by and before I knew it the finish line was in sight. I tried sprinting to the finish but it really wasn't that much of a sprint at all.

Immediately after I stopped running I thought I was going to get sick. It was terrible but luckily nothing happened and I started feeling better after a few minutes.

Everyone had a great race yesterday, especially my boyfriend. It was his first 5K and he ran a 21:38! I couldn't be more proud of him.

To my surprise I actually crossed the finish line with an official time of 26:57, for a 1:23 PR!


My dad ran a great time of 27:42, the best he has run in a long time, and my cousin's wife finished in 23:45. My superfast cousin ran a 17:00 to finish 8th overall. Even more impressive is that he ran the New York City Marathon and hadn't run since then. His best 5K is a 15:56! Holy fast!

I hope everyone who raced yesterday had a great time and everybody had a wonderful turkey day!