2020 Alexandria (Virtual) Turkey Trot 5 Miler
Prologue
This time last year, I hadn’t been cleared to run after recently being diagnosed with high blood pressure (and a Vitamin D deficiency) after finishing the 2019 New York City Marathon.
This year, I ran a virtual marathon that I called the 2020 Runners Run Marathon in April after the 2020 Boston Marathon was cancelled. With no races in sight, I spent the summer focusing on speed training and the fall reclaiming my aerobic endurance. This race was the culmination of those two training cycles
Goals
Achievable: Sub-42:30 (8:30 pace). Based on a recent workout when I was able to run 7 miles in 8:38 pace, I thought something in the mid-8:00 pace was absolutely achievable.
Stretch: Sub-39:45 (7:57 pace). Doing a RunWashington’s DMV Distance Derby around Hains Point, the fastest I was able to run 2.5 miles was 7:46. If the distance was doubled, I guessed my pace would have fell off to this.
Likely: Sub-41:00 (8:12 pace). This was between those two times and what I thought was most likely to happen.
Course
I contemplated doing the official race course but decided I didn’t want to deal with road traffic. Instead, I decided to run a loop of the Tidal Basin and Hains Point.
Strategy
I was treating this as a race, so my goal was to start out hard and just see how long I could keep that pace!
Playlist
Lately, I’ve been having streaming issues with Spotify so I downloaded music locally to my smartphone and played these songs on shuttle.
Pre-Race
On Thanksgiving Day morning, I woke up just after 6 a.m. While drinking coffee, I plotted out a route for this virtual race and a playlist.
My boyfriend and I planned to spend the day together eating and relaxing. Recently, we’ve been looking for a house so on my way to Gravelly Point, which is where I would start my warm-up, I took a detour to see a house for sale. it was eerie driving by National Airport and not seeing very many people.
I parked at Gravelly Point and used the porta-potty before starting my warm-up on the Mount Vernon Trail to the 14th Street Bridge. About 17 minutes later, I arrived at The Tidal Basin. After taking a few pictures, I was off!
I arrived at The Tidal Basin. After taking a few pictures, I was off!
Weather
There had been rain in the forecast earlier in the week but when I woke up, it seemed light enough for a good run. When I started the run, the temperature was around 63 degrees and winds were out of the southwest at 13 mile per hour.
D.C.-area forecast: Showers fade ahead of a mild Thanksgiving afternoon https://t.co/9CebdhMvfL
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) November 26, 2020
The Race
Miles 0 to 3 – West Potomac Park/The Tidal Basin
From the Ohio Drive Bridge, I started out clockwise around The Tidal Basin. Immediately, I remembered I wanted to record this run with Strava because my Garmin malfunctioned a few times recently and I wanted back-up data. I scrambled to get that going about a tenth of a mile down the road.
I curled around the road leading to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and onto Independence Avenue and immediately felt a headwind. There were a few tourists on the sidewalk and I put my face mask on as I passed them. The time for my first mile split was 7:50!
Splits (by course): 7:50, 7:56, 8:14.
Miles 2 to 5 – East Potomac Park (“Hains Point”)
A mile-and-a-half into the run, I entered the north end of Hains Point. Looking ahead to the first gate, I saw road closure signs and panicked. Then, I saw a small group of runners take off and thought it must be okay. Soon, I was running behind a woman who was going slightly faster than me and passing her became my motivation for the rest of the run. I kept her in my sights as we ran around the bend. I thought maybe I had a chance of catching her. I ran behind her the entire way. I felt bad that she was running alone but I had her to motivate me.
After the second gate, the woman turned right and I kept straight. the woman turned right and I kept straight. At Long Bridge, my Garmin showed 5 miles but I let it record a little long to avoid a 4.99 mile recording. 5 miles but I let my Garmin record a little long to avoid a 4.99 mile recording. Then, I stopped the Strava app. I thought it was interesting that the data from the Strava app resulted in a longer distance even though I started recording later.
Splits (by course): 8:16, 8:16.
Post-Race
I ran my cool-down back over the 14th Street Bridge to Gravelly Point.
Later that afternoon, my boyfriend and I enjoyed oysters, shrimp, cheese, bread, salad, and champagne for Thanksgiving Lunch.
Result
Time=40:39
Pace=8:06/mile
Participants had until Sunday to register their times online but it took a few days for the organizers to post the results. I was the 17th finisher out of 141 (top 13%), 4th woman* and 1st in my age group.
*My Strava time – 40:20 – would have made me 3rd woman.
Personal Records:
5 Miler PR: 33:47 (6:46 pace) at the 2015 Alexandria Turkey Trop 5 Miler
Most Recent 5 Miler: 37:03 (7:25 pace) at the 2018 Alexandria Turkey Trop 5 Miler
Epilogue
I will the next week off and then start training for a potential spring marathon!
