St. John Turkey Trot 5K
Georgetown, KY
by Deborah Jackson
November 20, 2010
When I ran this race last year, I quickly realized how hard it was and I wasn’t mentally prepared for it. But I toughed it out and ended up with a time of 28:28. I was just glad to finish! I SWORE I’d never compete in this race again, but as soon as I drove from the parking lot I KNEW I had to do it again and improve my time! Then I could forget all about this race and compete next year in a Turkey Trot road race instead!
The race is located at the wonderfully named Double Stink Hog Farm, at the Intersection of 922 and 460 in Georgetown, KY. It’s a cross country course. I’ve run a few cross country races in Kentucky and this one is the hardest. It’s got plenty of hills and rough terrain, but If you like a challenging race, this one’s for you!
Deb's view of the sunrise over Scott County inspired her to run a great race.
I arrived at the race an hour before it started. I picked up my race number and shirt and put my name in for the raffle drawing. I went back to my car to get ready to run my mile warm-up. I looked up and saw this amazing sunrise! It was so beautiful I just had to take a picture to share with everyone!
With sunlight streaming through partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 50 degrees I knew this morning was perfect for running! When I finished with my warm-up I was ready to go!
So there I was, crowded together with a hundred and twenty-six other runners, all ready to compete. My MP3 player must’ve read my mind, because it started blasting Rob Zombie’s “What Lurks on Channel X,” which starts out with a low voice saying “13 Acres of Hell.” It was the perfect song, because it said out loud what I was already thinking! The air horn blew and off we went.
Shortly after the start I encountered the first downhill with a real doozey of a slope. I like to call it “ankle-break hill” because if you’re not careful you could easily break your ankle! I saw a little kid trying to run that hill at full force and he did a full frontal body splat on the ground! Of course, little kids bounce, so he got right back up and kept going!
After coming down ankle-break hill, we battled up a huge arching hill. It was pretty tough, but most of us managed to tackle it without stopping…although it sure slowed us down!
Towards the end of the second mile, we looped around a hairpin turn and quickly realized we’d be facing the same grueling hills in the opposite direction. We went up the huge arching hill for a second time. Halfway up the arch we turned right and ran straight across the entire course. Yikes! We were headed down the dreaded ankle-break hill for a second time!
After we conquered ankle-break hill again, it was back up the huge arching hill for a third and final time….I remember this clearly because last year I was mentally done at this point. This year though, there was no stopping me … I tackled that hill like there was no tomorrow, knowing I was coming to the finish!
On the last half mile, I could see the finish. Unfortunately, my bliss was cut short as the path weaved to the left and we labored up yet another new hill. Finally, as I raced toward the finish line, I saw I was gaining on a young man in his twenties. Here I was, a 46 year-old woman gaining on a young man! I KNEW he had it in his head, “I’m not gonna let this old lady beat me.” and he took off running! I yelled after him, “Go! Get that guy in front of you!” and sure ‘nuff he did!
At the end, I congratulated the young man on a good race. He told me I motivated him by telling him to get the guy in front of him! It made me feel really good to know I motivated someone!
All in all, it was a really good race. I got a GREAT time of 26:17… obliterating my time from last year! My goal for next year is to get a sub-25:00. I know, I know! I said I was done with this race, but I LOVE the challenge. I highly recommend this race because it gave me a real “family” feel. I really got the impression that everyone had fun running together!
