Kingston Turkey Trot 5k

On Saturday November 2oth Heather and I went down to the South Shore for the Kingston Turkey Trot 5k. I was looking for a race to do over the weekend and I wanted to do a 5k on Saturday to give myself more time to recover for a race on Thanksgiving. This was one of the few 5k options for the day and having prize money was also a major plus. So we decided to head for Kingston.

Once we got there we got our numbers and I perused the entry list for names I recognized. The only one that I saw was John Noland, a tough master runner that I have battled with for many years. After a warm up over the course, which is flat with a couple hills in mile 2, and getting myself ready to race we headed over to the starting line. At the starting line I still did not notice anyone I recognized, there were a bunch of High school guys, but I was starting to think that I maybe running by myself out there after a mile or so. This was not to be the case!

After some words from and instructions at the start we were off and running. As always the high school kids were out fast and into the lead right away. As we made our way down the first stretch of road I started making my way around them and towards the front. One little guy wasn't having it and each time I pulled up next to him he stomped on it. It was really pretty funny. Soon enough I was past the high schoolers and out in front with two other men. The first was John Noland and the other was a mystery to me, I later found out this was Marc Leblanc (a very accomplished runner from Natick). As we got close to the first mile mark John was breathing pretty heavy and I knew he would not keep the pace for much longer, Marc on the other hand seemed comfortable and his breathing was controlled. I was starting to think that I may have a race on my hands. We hit the first mile in 5:02. I pressed on and son I did not hear John anymore, but Marc was right on me. We soon made a right hand turn and started the pop portion of this lollipop style course. This section had a set of small hills that I thought I could use to my advantage. At the first hill I made an effort to push pretty good and soon felt a small gap open up, so I kept the pressure on and really hammered the resulting downhill and the next more significant up hill and down hill. Son I made a left hand turn back onto the main road and back towards the finish. I could no longer hear anyone behind me and I was thinking that I had just done enough work to break the guy behind me and win this race. I hit the two mile mark in 10:08 (5:06 miles) and thought that I had done a great job pressing and maintaining a great pace through the hills in the last mile. At this point I was thinking of the finish line and just getting there to wrap this thing up. About 4-500 meters later while making a right hand turn onto another road a course director says "nice job guys". I am first thinking "Thanks" then I was thinking "What? Guys? That's plural I am all alone.....(look over shoulder) .....oh crap!" Marc was no more that 5 meters back and I was now in panic mode. The first thing I did was start pressing again thinking I could get away from him.....that didn't seem to do anything. He was soon right on my shoulder. So I relaxed a bit and tried to collect myself now knowing that this was probably going to come down to a kick. We soon made a quick left and then a right onto the final 400m stretch of road. Just as we made that right hand turn Marc went by me. At this point I thought the race was over. I was not prepared for his move and could not cover it right away. Marc soon had a 5 meter lead on me and we could now see the finish line. I pressed to get back on Marc's shoulder just as we passed the 3 mile mark. I thought for sure the second I caught back up he would kick me down over the last 0.1 miles. But we hit the three mile mark and nothing happened.....there was no kick. So I just went for it.......I was not going to lose this race now after leading almost the whole way. So I threw down probably the ugliest looking kick ever. I was determined to get to that finish line first, I was swinging my arms as hard as I could as I raced to the now blurry finish line. I just kept going as hard as I could until I got across the line. I hit the finish line in 15:51, good for a 6 second victory. I guess all that effort to catch back up to me had taken the kick out of Marc, but I didn't take any chances as we went for the finish line.

Heather also had a good race finishing up in 18:12 and good for first place female!!

After the race a group of us including Heather, Marc Leblanc, John Noland, Wayne Alukonis, and myself went for a cool down. I got a chance to talk to Marc and he is a very nice guy with a great running resume. We realized that we have actually race each other quite a few time and have pretty close PR's. Word on the street is that he has just joined Whirlaway so I expect to see a bit more of him out on the USATFNE Grand Prix circuit.

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