Galloping Gobbler - Run

The field has grown a lot since I first ran this race 4 years ago and the start corral was more crowded than usual. the timing mats forced everyone into a much smaller area than in years past and this caused my start to be a little slower than I might have liked.
I positioned myself toward the front of the corral but not to close. (I was trying to make sure all the faster runners had their room to smoke me. I wish several other had this much consideration for others.) After the gun, I was able to get to the side of the road where there was not a lot of traffic and begin passing many of the slower people in front of me.
Once out of the mass of people it seemed to clear out a lot and I had plenty of room to pass and be passed. (The start gate being narrow forced everyone into a small chute and congested the start but once out of the chute most people went as wide as the street.) I began to check my watch for pacing info and saw that I was at 6:01 for the first .25 mile, way too fast. I started to slow some to regain control of my plan but it was difficult to back it down. As I progressed I was slowly backing down but this may have had more to do with the hills than proper pacing techniques.
Once into the cemetery, I started the up and downs and tried to run smart by not trying to smoke the hills. It proved to be more successful than the first mile of pacing.
The back of the course has some steeper hills and I was able to negotiate them fine. It seemed I had found a good pace at this point. Te last mile was a longer, less steep climb that I was able to keep a strong finishing pace.
I finished the run in front of enough people to get a nice fresh loaf of Pumpkin bread. They gave these out to the top 180 finishers. This was my first time getting this prize.

I would have paced a little better at the beginning of the race. I got excited and took advantage of the curb and space to pass and kind of lost control.

Very funny. I need to do these but I found someone to talk to and spent my cool down period talking.


I had a longer than usual swim last night that took more out of me than I should have allowed. I did some longer sets that had me a bit sore this today. Next time I will back this down some more to stay more fresh for the race.


I love this race for some reason. I am not positive why.The field has grown a lot since I first ran this race 4 years ago but it is very fun to see all the families out exercising together.
I am glad this race is growing but I hope it doesn't get much bigger. Much bigger and I think there could be some pretty good logistical issues, such as parking and space in the corrals. That said I don't think they should limit the field either.