A Long Overdue Turkey Trot Report

I have been wanting to get on here and blog about my very awesome Turkey Trot, but Thanksgiving day was busy busy, and on Friday I got some very sad, upsetting news, and well I havent been in the right state of mind since. Ill speak more on that in another post because I do need all of your prayers and support, but this post is strictly Turkey Trot business. It was such a wonderful experience and this post should be all wonderful.

With that being said..can I say 30:46!!!! Can you believe it?! Can I say how geeked I was?

As I mentioned before I was sick the last 4 days before the race, and even tried to go out for a jog on Wednesday and it was a disaster. My cold had moved into my chest, and when I jogged I could barely breath. I gave up after 1.5 miles and walked home. So I had no idea what would happen at the race. I was so anxious for the race the night before that I woke up probably every other hour through the night. Finally the alarm went off at 6am, and I popped out of bed. The drive there was pretty easy, but once I got off the freeway it was like a parking lot. I sat in traffic for about 40 minutes and I finally found a parking garage open. I chatted with Kristen and she was still stuck in traffic to, so I told her where Id be and met her there. I called Rob, and Jim and him were going to meet me in the lobby of the building the race started in front of. So I paced around the lobby for a little while and it was like 5 minutes before race time, and nobody. So I called Kristen, she had found Rob and Jim and they were calling me but I didnt get the call. My signal kept dropping. Go figure! So by that time there was so many people lined up to start the race that there was no way I could find them. :( So I told Kristen I would call them when we were done. I do have to admit, I was a little intimidated to jog with them. Damn my insecurities eh? But I still was pretty bummed that I couldnt find them, and wasnt going to be able to run with them. But I know there will be plenty of other races. It would of been nice to experience my first 5K with such supportive friends as Jim, Rob, and Kristen. Especially when I was having those pre-race jitters. :)

Anyhoo, well the race started and off I went, well not right away. It took me a few minutes to get past the start line. I kept a pretty good pace, starting off slow. It felt awesome to be passing people up. :) I got to the half way point and I was still feeling pretty good. Getting a little warm, but it was all good. I stripped off the gloves at this point, and the girl next to me said, did we pass the 2 mile mark yet? Please say yes. I laughed and said I think we are almost there. Shortly after that I got a little tired. But I said no walking. You can do this. Focused on some breathing and checked out the scenery along the way. People were all dressed up so it was quite amusing. And the people yelling, go runners!, made me smile :) (Wait, did they just call me a runner? Well yes I think they did. Melissa a runner...who would of thought?!) When I was almost to where the start line was...I got geeked, and even looked at the girl next to me and said...we are in the home stretch! Not quite. We had to loop around, go down a hill, and loop around again. But no problem. I crossed the line at somewhere around 32:00. But when I checked the website time it was really 34:04...so not sure what I was looking at! I knew that it took a few minutes to get across the start line so thought I may have come in around or a little above 30 minutes, and that made me feel real good. I cooled down a bit, went and grabbed some water and than found Kristen, Rob, and Jim. It took a few phone calls to find them though. Maybe I should of had on my bunny ears like on the 3 day. :)

Finally I found my FAT family. I thought, yay! Im no longer the lost little girl :) It was so great to meet Rob! You guys love Rob through his blog....wait till you meet him :) I love meeting people online. Its like you chat for so long, and when you finally get to meet each other its just so much more satisfying. I knew that meeting Rob (since I already met the Kristen and Jim) was definitely going to be anything but awkward. So when I saw Rob I gave him a hug and it felt like seeing an old friend. It felt the same way when I met Jim on the 3 day. And it was great to see Jim again, since we havent seen each other since the 3 day. By the way Jim, your not that far from me...maybe I should meet you for a mall walk sometime :) And of course I couldnt help but be giddy while I hugged Kristen, because we just ran our first 5k! If it wasnt for Kristen, who knows if I would of ever even thought of running a 5k! It was really nice to see these guys after my race, because they know the journey Ive been on, and I know the journey they have been on. We did great on this race, and all have done such great work in the last year. It was such a great feeling of unity. Congrats to Jim, Kristen, and Rob...you guys rock! I hope that us FAT Michiganders can get together more often. And one day all of us FAT members get to meet!

Can I just say it again....30:46!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOO! Better than I ever imagined Id do, especially with feeling sick. To think 7 weeks ago I could barely jog 60 seconds, and now I can run a full 5k in almost 30 minutes! Go Me :)

There is a run on NYE, a 4 mile. Im so signing up and think that Kristen, Rob, and Jim may as well. Maybe Ill get to actually run that one with them :)

Heres pictures although you may have already seen them.




Another goal to mark off on my list. And time to add a few more :) I cant express how thankful I am for this group. Im doing things I never imagined I could do. Its simply amazing.