Race Review - 10k Turkey Trek

The final race for me of 2014 was the 10k Turkey Trek in Arvada, CO. The event comes in 2 flavors, the 10k and a 2k version. This is a pretty small local race, but well run and it comes with a really nice tech t-shirt for your trouble. There is also a canned food drive where you can earn some more raffle entries.

In the packet pick-up line.

Now, as we all know, just about every race these days has some sort of gimmick to set it apart from the rest. Wether that's mud and fire, splashes of color and water, or just plain rough terrain, very few races are standard 5k or 10k affairs. This suits me just fine, because variety is the spice of life. The Turkey Trek is no exception. Although, you can bomb it as a straight 10k if you're looking to win or set a PR, you get bonus raffle entries for chugging egg nog and/or eating pumpkin pie along the way.

And... they're off!

It was a beautiful day in late November, and in CO it can certainly go either way at that time of year, but we got some nice sunshine as we lined up to go. They split male and female starts by 15 minutes, although you could race in either heat, as long as you told the score keepers, so you could get an accurate time as the race was timed off the gun. The 2k sprinters would start after the ladies and run in the opposite direction in a short out and back route.

My son was "unmotivated" for this race and said he'd run with me, which is a slow pace for him. It didn't take long before he couldn't take it and pulled ahead. Around mile 2 he was far enough away I lost sight of him.

The course wound slightly downward to a creek crossing, then around 2.5 miles it started up, and up, and up to a steep switchback hill climb that topped out right about the midway point of the race. Here they had the Eggnog Chug Challenge setup. Not being one to turn down a challenge, I gladly accepted to 5oz. cup of 'nog and slammed it with relative ease. About 20 yards further on was a puking area, but it was mainly just for laughs, I hope, as I didn't see anyone throwing up.

Mid chug.

At this point, the course takes a long winding downhill route of the next mile or so. All on concrete, so a bit hard on the knees and I wasn't able to go quite as fast as I would have liked to here. The rest of the back half creeps up and down some rolling hills. Somewhere around mile 5 I spied something on the ground and stopped to pick up a broken pot pipe. Welcome to Colorado! The course flattens out at the turn around point for the 2k, which is where the tables were set up for the Stuff Your Pie Hole challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't see any pie (my son would say the same, post-race) so I didn't get to accept the 2nd challenge. Not sure if they were out, or I just didn't see it.

You never know what you'll find racing in CO.

From here it's a sprint to the end and off to the fairground for some tasty hot apple cider and lots of free snacks and whatnot. Awards were given for overall and top 3 in age group. My son managed to get 3rd in his group. Not bad for being "unmotivated" and I placed 14th in mine. Putting him at 35th overall and myself at 105 out of 245 for the day.

That's my boy, always dressed for the occasion.

The raffle had some good offerings, including vouchers for free pairs of running shoes, but even with all our attempts to get extra entries, we left empty handed.

All said and done, we had a pretty good time and enjoyed the race. The downhill on concrete was a bit of a drag, but it was tolerable. Some hill practice might be in order if you plan to place well in this event.