Turtle Trot 5K: review

On Saturday, I ran my signature race: the Turtle Trot 5K.

 
It was the hardest race I've ever ran. Why? Trails. Lots of trails. 

I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a record-breaking day. I knew that trails were involved and knowing that trails and I don't really get along. I've ran on trails twice. I fell down once. The other time I felt like I was going to fall down or sprain my ankle (Note: I sprained my ankle three years ago, and I still feel it. It was the worst injury I've ever had, and I couldn't do much except hobble around in my clunky ankle boot for months. Anything I can do to avoid that happening ever again, I'll do.) 

So, I took the race slow and easy. It started in a neighborhood, went into a park with trails, went back through the neighborhood, into another park with trails, back through the neighborhood and back to the original park with the original trails. And a boardwalk. With a missing plank.

The neighborhood start. I look angry. I'm not.

The trails were narrow, uneven and packed at the beginning. I'm glad I wasn't shooting for a PR because it would have been very frustrating. It eventually thinned out, but the only time I felt like really pushing it was the neighborhood, which was such a small part of the race. 

So, I just tried to enjoy the race ... and avoid falling down. 

I ended up with my slowest time ever: 36:19. Yikes. I was REALLY careful on the trails. Oh, well. I'll try to better my time another day. The important thing is I loved the cause of the race: parks. Parks that loves turtles. Just like me.

Hanging in my area (with Chloe)

The turtle and turtles. In the water. They're there. Trust me.