Turkey Trot 5k, Dodge Center, MN

Carin, Jace, and I went to Dodge Center to do a 5k on Saturday morning--it was the 3rd Annual Turkey Trot 5k Run.  It was a fairly low turn-out--when I checked in they had 43 preregistered and with the temps as they were, they probably weren't going to draw many more.  It was around 20 degrees when we left the house and it didn't get much warmer by the time the race started.  This was Carin's first 5k that she would actually run/jog.  She did the Festival 5k, but pushed Sofia a jogger.  The race was purely grass roots--no numbers, no timing system except for a stop watch.  However, the course was measured to 3.1 miles.  They even had a little out-n-back section built into the course to make sure we got that point 1 in.  I came really close to wearing my FiveFingers, but after a warm-up jog that ended up almost freezing my toes off, I decided to wear the racing flats.  I went inside the host-business of the event, Dodge Center Chiropractic, to warm up a bit and found they were about to make race numbers out of plain old paper--purely old-school.  Cool, but I would guess many would fall off.  I made the suggestion of handing out numbers as people finished.  I posted up back in August about a race I did in FL where instead of having numbers, they number popsicle sticks 1 thru how ever many people were racing and as you crossed the finish line, they would hand you the popsicle stick that corresponded to your placing in the race.  That's what they ended up doing for the Turkey Trot--using small pieces of paper that were actually little ad inserts of the race flyer.  On the back they had the places written and jotted down your time as you finished.  This was actually pretty cool--the flyer for the race with you place on it.  Above is a copy of ours all together.  Below is how we finished. 

It was a good day for all of us--despite the cold and the fact that his left shoe came untied just over the 1 mile mark and was loose and sloppy the rest of the way, Jace finished only about a minute off of his fastest 5k.  His time was 23:48--good enough for 5th OVERALL.  Carin's goal was to finish it under 45 minutes. She did that with a lot of time to spare as she posted a 38:02.  She was 21st overall.   I over-ran a right turn and turned right at the next street and ran opposite the direction the course went, then ran a different section, but parallel with the correct one, back to the finish.  Its confusing to describe, but my GPS measured 3.08.  The .02 was likely due to angling the corners.  Like many races, angling thru just right can save you a few steps on each turn.  This course had plenty--I think there were 15 right angle turns and one turn-around.  Despite all the turns, I kinda liked the course.  There were a couple long stretches, then a few 1-3 block long shorter sections which kept the scenery changing and making time go by faster.  I didn't PR, but was within 30 seconds of it.  I ran an 18:34 (5:59 pace) which was enough to finish 1st overall.   Some friends were there too... Jeremy and Patti E showed up--Jeremy watched us freeze and Patti raced it.  Andy G ran it and convinced one of his daughters to do it too.  I don't know what their times were though as we were given our number with our time on it and nothing was actually recorded for compiling results (not sure).  We all talked a little after the race, but were more concerned with warm coffee and getting out of our sweaty clothes that were actually starting to frost over.