Chris Yung Memorial Turkey Trot Recap and Review

This past Thursday I earned my turkey. I ran my first Turkey Trot, which also happened to be the first race in the BRATS Holiday 5K Series from Bristow Tri and Swim. The race was the Chris Yung Memorial Turkey Trot 10/5K. The race is in memorial of a police officer, Chris Yung, who was struck and killed by a vehicle while on duty. There were a large number of motorcycle cops present volunteering and honoring his memory, which was wonderful to see.

Gobble Gobble Run!

I was excited to run my first turkey trot. I can't really explain why, I just was. The race day weather was cool, but not as bad as expected. I wore long sleeves and tights under my shorts, but was not cold standing around pre-race other than my hands. Of course, the starting line was outside of a closed Target, mocking my cold hands with their gloves for sale inside any other day of the week. With that in mind, though, parking was ample and simple. Packet pick up was a breeze race day, just like my previous BRATS race experience. I walked right up to the table, gave them my name. One person checked me off, another grabbed my bib and a third got me my shirt. The swag was limited to the shirt, but it was a nice short sleeve tech shirt (in a bright orange that I enjoy).

Both courses were shared, with a simple out and back. For the 5K you just turned around sooner than the 10K racers. The start went in 2 waves, the first was the 10K starting at 8:30 followed by the 5K around 8:40. This leads to the only hiccup of the race. There was one speaker at the start / finish line that was playing music pre-race. This was also used for announcements just before the race, reminding everyone what the pre-race email mentioned (10K first, course highlights, two way traffic). However, with the large number of people, if you weren't up front, you didn't hear it. you didn't even know they were talking. Heck, back where I was before the race, we didn't even know they were doing the national anthem until the rockets were red glaring. Another speaker further down would have went a long way.

The course wasn't too difficult. It featured a slow uphill grade for a decent portion of the first half, but I hadn't even realized it until turning around and realizing how much downhill I was going. I had my run walk intervals going and apparently didn't even notice the uphill journey. I won't argue with that. My phone came in with a just over 12 and a half minute pace (with negative splits!), which I was very happy with accomplishing. After seeing my chip time, I found out I had a sub 12 minute pace, which makes me ecstatic!

Official time: 37:03.74

It actually turns out to be my 5K race PR. I probably could have pushed a little harder, but I'm happy with that.

Just after finishing.

After finishing the race, we were given a dog tag with the race logo on. It's not full on bling, but it was pretty cool. Plus, I have my special Holiday Series bling I'm working towards anyway. For the runger, there were bananas, granola bars and protein bars. Not a bad selection for a small 5K.

Race Review

I really enjoyed this race. The weather wasn't as cold as it could have been. Despite the small speaker issue, overall the race was well set up and run. It was also a great value. I registered at an early bird rate of $25. How many 5Ks give tech shirts as part of their swag? runDisney doesn't even do that as $60 (on the cheap end of the scale for their 5Ks). The race was simple but good.

Race grade: B

Check out my review on BibRave

Final Take Away

Was the race fun?
Yes.

Did I get my money's worth?
Absolutely.

Would I do it again?
Yes.

Bib and (semi) bling.

Did you run any Turkey Trot this year? How was it? Have you reviewed it on BibRave yet?