turkey burner 5k – Masher Runs

Did you guys know that Medina is a mecca for runners? When we moved out of the suburbs, I was pretty convinced that I’d have to travel a long distance for every race I’d want to run. Luckily over the past year I’ve learned that Medina has a Second Sole, a running group, many running trails and hosts a bunch of races ranging from 5k to a double marathon. I had no idea that I had so much access to all things running and I couldn’t have been more excited. While I love the atmosphere of a large race, running a small local race just feels so much better.

I’ve run with the Road Runners group and have found new training routes as well as advice from all types of runners. It’s amazing what you’ll learn when you run with a group and how much more motivation you have for races. Sometimes the best thing for your running is to get out of your comfort zone…

Which leads me to my next point. I encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and try running somewhere new. As hard as it is to leave running next to Lake Erie or in the Cleveland Metro Parks, head South on 71 and run some rolling hills and country roads. You can start this Thursday when Second Sole Medina hosts Ladies Night. I definitely plan on being there and following it up with some sunset running and yoga.

Source

If that’s not your kind of thing, there are plenty of races down in the Medina area to please all distances. Hopefully I’ll see you out there at one of these!

Upcoming Races:

October 5, 2013 – Running of the Ghouls 5k

October 26, 2013 – Paws for the Cause 5k

October 26, 2013 – Montville Police Patrolman’s 5k

October 27, 2013 – Run with Scissors Half Marathon/Marathon/Double Marathon

November 28, 2013 – Turkey Burner 5k

December 8, 2013 – Buckeye Woods 25k/50k

And don’t forget, May 31st is the Medina Half Marathon, it’s never too early to register!

I’m thankful for hills. At least that’s what I kept telling myself as I ran the Turkey Burner 5k in Hinckley over Thanksgiving. This post is a little delayed, but I think we’re all moving slow this week. Thanksgiving plans weren’t confirmed until about Wednesday night, so I hadn’t pre registered for any race. Luckily Hinckley had a 5k that was close and relatively inexpensive. I tried to get there early so I could register, get a good parking spot and find out where I was even running.

I got there around 8:20 and went right away to register. Unfortunately they didn’t have any shirts left, and had run out days ago. Bummer, it was a pretty nice long sleeve shirt and I was looking forward to adding another to my growing collection. It was freezing and I regretted not bringing a headband, so I spent most of the time before the race in my car. The race was set to start at 9:00, but at 8:55 they let everyone know they were going to start at 9:10. It ended up being 9:15 by the time we started, and there was no send off. I looked up and saw people running and started on my way.

I was still freezing and was hoping to use the first mile to warm up, get my pace and use the last mile to speed things up. I was wrong. A quarter mile in a hill started, and it kept going and winding up, and up until we reached the first mile. A tough start to the race and many were dropping behind or walking already. I powered through, but my pace was not impressive, I came in at the first mile around a 10:00 pace. But with an incline, comes a decline and we were heading down hill to the water stop. I passed and just kept going. We then had two smaller hills, not as bad, but they were still hills. Around mile 2 was the last hill. It was a steep one, and I struggled with this one, but I knew we were almost done and hopefully the rest would be easy. Everything after that was a slight down hill followed by a quick turn into the finish. I crossed the line at 27:40, not bad for 4 hills.

Four hills, why not?

Overall, it wasn’t a bad race. There weren’t any mile markers, so I was glad to have my Garmin, but my pace was all over the place. I averaged a 9:03 pace, but was up to 10:00 going up hills and down to 7:40 running down hill. Unfortunately I can’t find results, and don’t think they’ll be posted. It was a beautiful course around Hinckley Reservation, probably the most scenic 5k I’ve done. I wish I had my phone so I could have taken pictures along the way. I’m hoping to get back out there sometime and really do some damage on those hills. If anything it was a good course to get my run in for the day, with a few hundred other people.

**Official results posted***

Overall -152/502

AG -4/15