This was a new race distance and experience for me. I've ran in several races near Thanksgiving but had never taken the plunge on Thanksgiving Day. This was a fun race, but there are definitely some areas in which this race could improve. The swag, however, was top-notch! A nice tech shirt, gloves, running hat, heavy medal, and a bottle of wine at the finish!
The race is held in Glacier Ridge Metro Park in Dublin, OH, and regularly sells out with 4,000 participants! It's one of the largest Thanksgiving races in Ohio. The park is very nice and the race started at a nice club that allowed us to come in prior to the race. That was great as temps were in the high 20s. There are shuttle buses going out from the various parking areas near the park. This was a nice touch and my girlfriend and I were able to get on one right after we parked.
I liked the race overall, but the start was so congested that I couldn't even line up in the right spot. The start area was very narrow and taped off in some areas, so I had to start near the back even though I needed to be near the front. That made for a frustrating start for me as I spent the first few miles dodging people. My goal coming in was to attempt to break 30 minutes, even though my training has been sporadic at best. I did my best dodging and came in around 7:40 for the first mile and the same for the second. There were a few hills sprinkled throughout but I liked the change of pace.
I spend the second half of the race doing less dodging and spending more time chasing down pace groups. I never got to the one I should have started with, but the race was chip timed so it really didn't matter where I started. The second half was definitely faster as we made our way back to the start. The best part was the downhill finish! I was able to hit my goal for the day (barely!) and came in with a respectable 29:47, good enough for 165/3,891 overall and 26/369 in my age group.
The only other gripe I had was getting a bus after the finish to go back to the parking area. It was a mess and we waited for around 20-30 minutes. There was no order to how the buses were parking to pick us up, so every time we ran to the one we needed it was already full. Not a huge deal, but I did see a lot of people walking back to their cars which were a mile or more away.
The next race will be my final one for this amazing running year. I'll be doing a two-person relay with a good friend, which should be a really fun time!
Next race: Tour de Ashland Half Marathon 2-Person Relay- Ashland, OH
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