Sandy 5K Turkey Trot Race Review / Recap

Most marathon training programs don't advocate running a 5K a week out from a marathon.  However, I haven't raced in a while and figured I'd like to see what I had for 5K speed in a low-key street race.  I found a local Turkey Trot in Sandy, about 10 minutes away from the apartment.

The race started at Lone Peak Park, a huge park with soccer fields, skateboard ramps, and lots of jungle gym type of stuff for kids to play on.  The race starts off in the park, heads down a side walk (not exactly conducive for a race this size) and then hits the streets to another park about 1.55 miles away.  That park appeared older and was more or less a baseball diamond.  You run a lap around the park and then head back.

My Garmin read 3.05 miles but I did see some other people with 3.11.  I suspect the race was a tiny bit short.  Either way, the course did contain some rolling hills, a brief jog on a bike trail and lots of "park" but it was an honest 5K in terms of terrain.

My goal was to keep it under 23 minutes, which I succeeded.  I hit a 22:44, which isn't bad considering I haven't done a lot of speed work.  I am hoping to change that this winter when I get out of marathon training mode.  I came in 18th overall (in the men's), about 21st including women, and 2nd in my age group, so I came home with a medal.  There were about 200 people racing the race.

I was hoping to run fairly consistent but I started out pretty fast and hit the first mile at 6:47.  I knew I'd pay a price for it later. That is a far cry from the 6:10's I used to run for a 5K.  I didn't lap the miles after that point, but as the race proceeded I got slower and slower to the point where the last mile I did in a grueling 8 minutes.  I just don't have my speed endurance anymore -- blame it on age and the thin Utah air.

I am pretty happy with my time but I can definitely tell that all the long runs I am doing are NOT helping my 5K times.  Although 3.1 miles is a warm-up, it is all about speed and I need to channel my inner Prefontaine if I expect to do well in the shorter races.

I ran into an old friend at the race as well, which was cool.  My buddy's wife said "Hey Eddie" midway through the race and I had no idea who it was until the end...  Nice to be making connections at these races.

Either way it was a nice way to start a Saturday and for $18 I got a new t-shirt, a medal and overall a nice experience.  The city of Sandy puts on a good race and what I like is that you can get your result, pick up your medal (if you win one) and then head home.  I was over and done with in just over an hour.

You can see the results here at Runner Card.

Race t-shirt

Medal and finish card