Turkey Dash

As we already know, I’m not a big runner. In fact, I absolutely hate running. And a race of any kind is a mixture of a lot of things I hate: running, waking up early, and being outside in the cold, so perfect for my next Comfortless post!

Last year was actually the first 5k race I had done, I think ever. I did do a race known as the Color Run once or twice but it was untimed and at every color station I would stop for like 5 minutes to play in the color powder. I know when I was younger I ran a lot of mile-long races and 2-mile races during my short time participating in cross country, but I don’t think I had ever done a 5k. I’m a huge New Jersey Devils fan and I heard about their Running With The Devils 5k in the fall. That one I actually wanted to sign up for because I liked that it was a Devils themed event. I signed up knowing it was a run AND walk and my family and I all intended to walk the whole race. The race took place near the end of October so it was somewhat cold outside, especially because registration was at 8 am so we had to get there extra early. The joke was on us because when the race started, no one else was walking at all. Sure, people always end up walking later on, but we figured other people would have registered as walkers and walk the whole race like we were planning to do. So instead we started off with a light jog to fit in…and it turned into us running (almost) the whole race. Obviously, I went into that race unprepared, but I ended up not doing too bad for my first 5k with absolutely no training.

Even though last year’s 5k turned out to not be that bad, I still hate running and will avoid it as best as I can. I always see a ton of turkey themed 5k’s around Thanksgiving, so I figured I may as well do something good for myself, for a good cause, and for the blog and sign up for a Thanksgiving 5k.

I found one in Asbury Park called Thanks4Giving for November 19th that raised funds for Special Olympics. Somehow I convinced my parents and one sister to sign up with me as well. I was fully ready to go on my own, assuming no one else would want to run a 5k because we all dread it and none of us are in running shape, but thankfully they said yes! There were two possible events that we could sign up for: the Turkey Dash, which was the 5k, or the Turkey Splash, where you jump into the ocean. Honestly, I kind of wanted to do the Splash a little bit more because I’ve never done anything like it before and it would be over much faster than a whole 3.1 mile run. Also, it would mean I wouldn’t have to run too. The Splash cost a lot more than the run, so we decided to just do the race because it’s still just as far out of my comfort zone. While the money would be going to a good cause, it was a little too much for all four of us to spend. Plus, I can jump into the cold ocean whenever I want.

We almost forgot to sign up before registration closed. I remembered while I was driving later in the day, so obviously I couldn’t sign up right then. Thankfully I remembered again at 11 pm — an hour before registration closed. I quickly signed myself and Ashley up as runners. I texted my mom about it and she signed her and my dad up as walkers. So the first step was done and now all we had to do was actually remember to go. This was much harder than you would think. The race was a last minute event for my family and they kept forgetting about it as the day approached. I too was preoccupied with school and other outside activities that I forgot how soon it was coming up. Please, I keep forgetting that Thanksgiving is this week! But the day before we made sure everyone knew it was happening and planned out what time to wake up and the stops we would make on the way.

I woke up at 8 am on the day of the race. Luckily, the check-in started at 10 am rather than 8 am like the Devils 5k. Asbury Park is much closer to us than where the Devils 5k was held so the commute didn’t take as long. The website stated that the race didn’t start until 11:30, so we were in no rush to get there super early or even right when registration started. One thing that was the same between this 5k and last year’s was that I didn’t train for it at all. I had good intentions back in October when I first read about it to start training so I wouldn’t die and could maybe get a good time, but the stress of midterms and going out for Halloween took over so I never made time for it. Then I told myself I’ll start November 1st so that way I get at least 2 weeks of training leading up to the race. This time I had no excuse for not working out except pure laziness. Still not motivated, I just gave up and reassured myself that I managed to do it last year with no training so why should this year be any different. Definitely not my smartest or most health conscious idea, but I saw a TikTok recently of a guy who ran a whole marathon with no training in under 5 hours, so if he can do that why can’t I run a simple 5k at my age.

We planned to leave the house at 9:30 because, knowing our family, we wouldn’t leave on time and we’d end up getting there closer to 11. Of course, we also had to work a stop at Dunkin’ in our plan. I’m not the only one in my family with a Dunkin’ addiction. I realized I didn’t really prepare myself by drinking any water the night before, so I tried to chug a glass before leaving but knew the coffee would probably cancel out any hydrating work the water did. I’d rather be dehydrated than go without my coffee though (just straight addiction talking there).

We got there around 10:30 and went to find the registration table. It was freezing outside so it was a huge relief when we saw that the registration was inside the Asbury Convention Hall. I didn’t see many people walking around that looked like they were about to run when we were trying to park so I started getting worried that we weren’t in the right place. I wasn’t the one in charge of directions though. I just made everyone sign up. I expected that my family would figure out the rest. I think the reason I didn’t see anyone walking around was because they were all inside the convention hall trying to stay warm. We found the table right by the front door when we walked in. Once inside, we got our race bibs and our free shirts! I love any event with a free shirt and this one was adorable! The image was designed to look like a beach badge and it has their turkey from the race’s logo with its own race bib and sneakers. I put the shirt on right away as an extra layer of warmth. I also had a thermal shirt underneath it, a sweatshirt on top of it, a beanie to protect my head and ears, and gloves because my hands are extremely sensitive to the cold. Seriously, they used to dry out every winter to the point of bleeding.

After registering there wasn’t really much to do before the race started, so we stayed warm inside like everyone else and looked around the little shops that were all set up. We also had to check out the merchandise table and there my mom got a shirt and Ashley got a turkey hat they were selling. I was very tempted to get one myself, but I already had my turkey socks on that said “I’m plucking hilarious” so I already had some festive apparel on. After shopping, we sacrificed our dad to be the one to go back in the cold and drop stuff off in the car. When he got back, they were telling the runners to start lining up at the start, so now we all had to leave the warmth and head outside.

When we got outside it felt like it was taking forever to start. Maybe it was just the cold hitting me, but I couldn’t hear any announcements and it didn’t feel like anyone was moving so I had no idea what was going on. I was looking around at everyone else and some people were decked out in turkey costumes. Others were wearing shorts and I seriously didn’t know how they were surviving. A little past 11:30 people finally started gathering together more and the race actually started! The horn went off and everyone started running through the starting line. I played my music, turned around and waved to my family, and took off. Even though Ashley was registered as a runner, she didn’t feel like running so she decided to hang back with my parents. They started off with a jog to fit in with everyone else, but they intended to slow down or walk later.

Since I don’t know how to pace myself I always start off at a much faster pace than I intend to run. I don’t even do it on purpose, I actually think I’m going slow and it turns out I’m wasting all my energy in the first 100 meters. Music doesn’t always help either because if I’m listening to a song I really like I’ll get excited and start running faster and wasting more energy. In this case, I was listening to "‘The DJ Is Crying For Help’ by AJR, who is my favorite band of all time and the song had just come out the previous day so I was extra excited about it!

I had no idea how long I had been running because I forgot to wear my watch to track my time and there were no markers along the race course to tell you how far you had run or what your time was. I had good intentions of running the whole race and not stopping to walk, even if I had to run extra slow…except that didn’t happen. I thought I made it through the worst of it when I started getting cramps right around the beginning. Usually I’ll stop when those hurt but I fought it and powered through until they went away because I still remember my elementary school teacher telling us that if you keep running they’ll go away. Then as I approached the halfway point, my stomach started hurting. I have a fear of throwing up at races and I really didn’t feel like breaking my 14-year-long streak of not throwing up, so it was worth it to walk for a little bit. I caught my breath and started up again when I saw runners passing by on the way back. This let me know that the halfway/turnaround point was close.

Once I reached the turn around I stopped to walk again because I wanted to take off my sweatshirt. This became more of a hassle than I intended because when I pulled it over my head, one of my AirPods fell out. Of course it couldn’t just fall right in front of my feet. NOOO, it fell all the way down the steps of the boardwalk and into the sand on the beach. I had to run off course to go retrieve it, now all covered in sand. As this was happening, my mom and Ashley were passing by on the other side, so Ashley cut across to see what was going on, and then took my sweatshirt for me to carry the rest of the way. After this mess I started running again. I eventually passed my dad too and gave him a wave as I ran by.

This paragraph is gonna get a little gross so be warned (just about spit and snot nothing that extreme). Now obviously, it was cold so my nose was RUNNING. I had no tissues and so much snot coming out of my nose that I didn’t know what to do. When I was wearing my sweatshirt, I just wiped it on that because it’s an old sweatshirt that can be washed. I didn’t want to wipe it on my new shirt and there was absolutely no way I was just going to snot rocket onto the boardwalk as I was running. So I just had to wipe it in my glove. I hate spit and it’s something that grosses me out more than anything, so seeing little wet spots along the boardwalk where I knew other people were spitting and snotting didn’t help my stomach feel any better. But I do understand why people do it because the snot and spit was building up and it made it hard to breath, but I still couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Finally, I started seeing the landmarks from the beginning of the race and I was almost at the finish. I followed one girl in front of me and used her to pace myself. I made sure I stayed an equal distance behind her because once I started seeing the finish line I knew I would get excited and start speeding up. I didn’t want to risk pushing my stomach any more and I wasn’t concerned about my time so I just stayed slow. Even when a literal child passed me I didn’t care I let her have it. I made it to the big “Finish” arch and raced through while everyone was cheering on the sides. They handed me a medal right away and I went to find a spot out of the way to catch my breath.

Not long after I saw Ashley sprinting past the finish line, and my mom coming across behind her. They also went to catch their breath and told me they ran the whole thing even though they planned to walk! We all sat with our medals talking about the race while we waited for my dad. He stuck to his word and walked the whole thing. We found tissues and water as we were waiting for him which helped a lot. When we finally spotted him my mom went over and convinced him to run through the finish line. We found him after he got his medal and headed back to warmth.

Since there were no displayed timers anywhere we had to go online to find our times. I ended up running 32:51.28. I actually did worse than I did for the Devils 5k (I got a 30 something then) even though I went in knowing I was running this one. But it’s not like I was really invested in beating my time. My parents’ times weren’t tracked since they registered as walkers, but my mom’s would have been similar to Ashley’s and my dad was tracking his on his watch.

As much as I hate running, I do like the atmosphere of 5k’s. Everyones positive and cheering each other on and in some cases, like the people dressed as turkeys, you get to dress up and have fun with it. Also, most of them are fundraising for great causes. I really enjoyed the Devils 5k last year and I wanted to do it again this year, but I didn’t have time. I wouldn’t mind signing up for more 5k’s, especially if they take place in warmer weather. Then I can actually start tracking my times too.

I should probably start training ahead of time so I don’t keep going in….cold turkey.