Wild Turkey 5 Mile Run

Nakri signed me up a few days ago at New England Running Company in Beverly. Krissy and I took the RAM to the race and caught every red light on the way. I warmed up around the Salem Common, meeting Nakri to grab my number. The Common filled with over 1500 runners with bright sun cracking down on the yellow leaves on the dew filled grass. The 8AM started promptly. I could tell right away my legs were flat and not interested in carrying low 7’s for long. 

I soaked in the surroundings seeing Krissy and her walking crew several times along the course. There were at least three beer/mamosa stops run by the local neighborhoods. Music was blasting and people were really into it as usual. Just a great atmosphere. I was on a cruise control to the end, not fussing over place or time. 240^th place, 39:32, 10^th out of 48 in the 45-49 age group. 7:54/mi pace. I found Nakri and ran an easy 1 mile cooldown. Krissy was wrapping up her walk at the Hawthorne Hotel. We watched the race for a few minutes before heading out for another Thanksgiving Holiday!

Wild Turkey 5 Mile Run Race Results November 23, 2023 - Salem, MA

Wild Turkey 5 Mile – Salem

With Thanksgiving Day, there was no shortage of races to choose from. I was tossed between the Wild Turkey 5 mile road race in Salem or the Maudslay State Park 5K cross country run in Newburyport. I picked Salem as I had more friends and family invested and the race is so close to home. Krissy and I got there with zero traffic at 6:50 AM getting primo parking at the Salem Commons. She headed out for a course walk with a friend at 7:05. I waited until 7:25 and headed out for a 2 mile warm up with Nakri Dao. Nakri would go on to run a few seconds quicker than last year with a 3^rd place age group time of 31:52. 

The weather was awesome, mid-30’s, bright sun and no wind. A long sleeve under the singlet, shorts and gloves fit the bill. I bought a pair, first for me, of carbon plated shoes made by Asics the day before at New England Running Company in Beverly. "Super shoes" they call them. Supposed to shave seconds off my pace per mile, keep me on my toes, magic! After all they are Magic Speed 2 Ekiden. 

I lined up 3 rows from the front line for the 8AM start. It felt like I was in 100^th place after 400m. I did my thing along Derby Street ensuring to not get too excited. I was expecting to run a sub 7 mile pace all the way today. Mile one passed by in 6:47 (per my GPS recording). I entered the loop into Winter Island for mile 2. Andrew Ernst running with the Notch Brewing kit already had a huge lead. More on that later. I gave a high five to Dan Donato on his exit from Winter Island. He would go on to run 27:15, 4^th OA and first master. 

My 2^nd mile split was 6:53. CMS member, Brian Hutter from Lynnfield was pulling away from me. He would go on for a 33:10. A loop around Salem Neck revealed another 6:47 mile. Now running through Salem Willows to the walkway along the shoreline passing Deadhorse Beach, had a little back and forth with competitors. 

I saw Krissy on the far right walking and cheering. Mile 4 came sooner than I remember from the past just beyond that last hill. That split was a 7:01. From there to the finish, flat as a pancake. 

Maybe I can reel in a few scalps? I was talking myself into catching at last six of them back at mile 3. I think I got 3 of them over the last 2 miles (did not count the kid tossing his cookies on the side of road at 4.8 miles). I wheeled into the finish with plenty of body language to show that I was tired. 83^rd place, 34:04. Almost broke 34 and that would have been sweet. Yet, I will take the 6:48.8 mile pace overall! Did the shoes help any? Hard to say. Maybe a few seconds per mile. The last mile was the quickest for me on the day at 6:42. Heart rate was over 170 for the last three miles.

I regrouped, sunk a bottle of water and headed out for another 1.5 cool down with Nakri who was almost thinking about a 10AM 5K race in Lynn. Now for those who have not peeked at the overall results or for those that have, may overlook the winning time via Andrew Ernst. He managed to break, no, crush the course/event record by 1.5 minutes. He ran 23:25! That is 4:41 pace per mile. The previous record was 24:55 by Russell Brown. I'll try and secure from top times over the past two decades from Doug Bollen and post them up here soon. 

Wild Turkey 5 Mile Results, Salem, November 24, 2022 

Wild Turkey 5 Mile - Salem

Brisk is the word to describe today's 5 mile race in Salem. A new start (from the statue) and finish (on Essex Street near PEM). The wind chill provided a real feel of the single digits. It was about 16 degrees and windy. I took the pants off as they would have fallen down at some point. So I looked like a masochist out there. Not too many were racing in shorts. Three thin layers up top with a Central Mass Strider ssnowshoe shirt on. I warmed up at the last possible minute to get in a mile around Salem Common with Rebecca O'Hanley, Kris Francis, and Nick Taormina. I shredded the wind breaker and pants before getting to the line. I caught up with David Corbet who PR'd with a 2:44 recently for 26.2 miles. So happy for him.

Good, clean, start, settled in behind Nick down Derby Street with a tail wind. He got away after the mile with a few guys after my 5:41 mile. In and out of Winter Island for mile 2, all I had was one guy close to chase. I caught him at mile three behind the Salem Willows. Nick had a half minute on me and I would lose more space over the last two miles. A nasty head wind was in force leaving the Willows from the Hatch Shell walk-way.

The cross wind off Dead Horse Beach was wicked as expected. Sand was flying across the road like a scene in Dune. I had to look left for 20 seconds to avoid getting sand in the eyes. I held that exact 7th place all the way to the finish line. Official time was 29:51 (29:26 last year), 1st 40-44 and 2nd place in the "wore shorts" division to Dan Chruniak who became a daddy yesterday (gave him the congrats on the starting line). I wasted no time to get moving with a cool down with Kris, Nick and Rebecca for a few laps around the Salem Common. Too cold to hang out, waited for Krissy and Liz and we bolted back home. Happy Thanksgiving!

2018 Wild Turkey 5 mile race results

Wild Turkey 5 mile road race

Thanksgiving Day brought on an opportunity to jump into the Wild Turkey 5 mile road race in Salem. I warmed up with Joe Shairs, showing him the first mile and the last mile of the race course. I warmed up another mile or so around the Salem Common with Nakri Dao. The race went out pretty fast putting me in the top 20 by the time we reached Derby Street. I made my way past a few guys into the mile (5:41) and holding tangents into Winter Island. 

I got passed by a runner in there as mile two went by. Joe was about 20 seconds ahead. I was flat through the turns behind the Willows. The slowest mile was leaving Salem Willows and through mile 4 with a 6:04 mile. We seemed to have a little head wind. The kid everyone was yelling for, “Billy” passed me before the last turn to the finish. I finished up behind him, good for 10^th overall. My time was 29:26 and first in my age group. Mile splits were as follows: 5:41, 5:50, 5:54, 6:04, 5:52 for the 5 miles. I rounded up Joe (6th - 28:32), Nakri (31st - 31:18), and David Corbett (12th - 29:33) and we went out for a cool down which brought me over 10 miles for the day.

Joe Shairs, Nakri Dao, and I