Thanksgiving Day - it's a day of food, family and football. And, if you are an athlete, it's a day to race. Even if you aren't an athlete and you just want to put yourself in a bit of a calorie deficit for the day, the Berbee Derby is a great way to do it.
About 1/4 mile from my apartment is the starting line of the Berbee Derby. The Berbee Derby is a 5 and 10K running race. It's become quite the popular event in the Madison area in recent years. I think registration hit nearly 5000 this year.
Race Day in 2007 greeted us with chilly temperatures, wind and icy roads. I still hadn't registered for the race, but knew I wanted to run on Thursday. So, I dialed up my trusty running buddy Peter and we decided to head over to the starting line. I still hadn't decided if I was going to register or just run the race bandit, but once we hit the icy sidewalks on the way over the decision was made. There was no way I was paying to run in these conditions. Peter seconded that decision and we headed to the Fleet Feet tent.
Everyone was there and huddled in the tents with two portable heaters. It was so nice and toasty in there. You even started to sweat a bit and then going out into the cold was even chillier. Brrrr! At first Peter and I were going to do the 5K, but at the last minute I made the call and we were running the 10K. If we were going to get all warmed up running, it might as well be longer than 20 minutes.
I hadn't properly tapered for this race at all, so my legs were quite tired. We started out slowly and gradually built into a sub 8 minute pace. In mile 2 we caught up with my friend Ed and decided to hang with him. Afterall, my legs were tired and we didn't register so it didn't really matter how hard or easy we ran that day. Besides, Ed was running a nice strong pace.
It was a pretty typical 10K run and on a course that I run regularly. There was some ice on the trails and the wind was pretty nasty after the turn around. Mile 4-5 was really tough for me, but somehow I rebounded just in time for the final hill. Peter and I ducked off the course once we hit the 6 mile mark. We didn't feel it was appropriate to run through finish having not registered. Instead we walked it in while cheering other runners on. Most people looked like we were nuts, because we had passed quite a few of them along the way and here we were walking the last .2 miles and cheering.
We would have come in just under 50 minutes had we finished the race. I'd say that's pretty darn good for a day where I wasn't at 100% and conditions were less than ideal.
The race was over and the turkey and pumpkin pie eating could begin!
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