3. Go on a Charity Run

One thing I wanted to do to challenge myself a bit was to go on a charity run, which also meant that I needed to start running. I spent the last month or so going jogging approximately 3 times a week and pushing myself a little bit more each time. I would go to the park across the street from my house which I think is really pretty and peaceful (even with the construction that has been happening there this summer). About 4 years ago a few of my roommates, other friends and I spent a summer going jogging together, and I have gone on my own periodically since. There are some things that I like about running with other people but I think I mostly enjoy running on my own.  

I decided to run the 53^rd annual Turkey Trot in support of the United Way. The Turkey Trot is organized through the University of Alberta and has a 4k route or 8k route. I ran the 4k. I chose to run the Turkey Trot for a few reasons: It’s on a Saturday, there are quite a few people from my church who also do this run (we run under the name Chimichanga), I support the goals of the United Way and I ran the Turkey Trot 3 years ago and thought it would be fun to try again.

Compared to my last experience I didn’t think there was as much excitement this year. It could be that I am not a student at the U of A anymore so I wasn’t exposed to the pre-Turkey Trot excitement/ advertising. It could also be because 3 years ago was the 50^th annual Turkey Trot so it was an anniversary celebration as well.

I didn’t run as well as I had expected but I was still ok with my time. My time was 27:19. The good thing about that time is that it was over a minute faster than my last time.  The bad thing about that time is that I know I could have been faster, I kind of wimped out between 2k and 3k. However, I mainly went for the experience and overall it was a good experience, I am glad I did it.

I plan to continue my running routine, well as long as the weather stays nice and it’s not dark by the time I get home from work. J