November 27, 2010 |

Got my trot on

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To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice your gift. ~ Steve Prefontaine


Turley’s Turkey Trot 5K: 18:56, 37th overall, 7th in age group


Well that was quick. In atypical Stu-style, I went out and ran a Turkey Trot on Thursday morning. This was the shortest running race in which I have participated since High School and I must say, it was a blast.


I was a bit concerned about the weather going in given that it was 3° and windy as hell at the casa when I packed up the car to drive down to Boulder for the race. The weather report called for windy conditions and 15° temps at the start and well… they were wrong. It was about 25°, sunny and only slightly windy as I rolled into the East Campus area, got checked in and started warming up around Potts Field.


I was lucky to run into Caleb as I began my warm-up and then just as quickly lost him again in the crowd. There were ~800 people running this race and so locating people around the starting line was a bit of a challenge. I soon found Sierra, handed her my vest and then hooked back up with Caleb just before the start. After a short wait, we were off!


The first 1/4 mile was fast. Way too fast. Caleb asked me what pace we were running and I checked my Garmin to see 5:15 pop up on the screen. Yeah… that was a little spicy so I backed off and settled into an aggressive but comfortable 6:02 pace for the first mile. My strategy was to punch the first mile, float the second and then try to hammer home the third and as I passed the “Mile 1” flag, felt like things were going to plan and settled into a nice rhythm.


I picked off fast starters during mile two and as we started the second lap of the event found myself pulling a group of about 4 up the only hill on the course and into a slight headwind. At this point the word “strategy” popped into my head and I remembered I was in a race where this stuff actually might matter. So I dropped my pace slightly to let one of the others through then jumped in behind him. Yup… much better. I cruised the second mile in what felt like a sustainable 6:13 then put the hammer down for the final 1.1.


I tried to hang with the last guy to pass me (who clearly had done this before – amazing form and leg-speed) without success but managed to stave off any other fast finishers and even picked off 5-7 people in the closing minutes of the race. I passed the “Mile 3” flag with my second 6:02 split of the day and uncorked my feeble version of a sprint for the last .1 mile (5:35 average pace) to finish in 18:56 – besting my target by a full minute. Caleb rolled in just a few seconds behind me and then we jogged around for a bit to cool down.



We both commented about how nice (and unusual) it was to start a race at 10:00 and be done by 10:20. The same day even! Pretty excited about this effort as it tees me up nicely to go for a sub-40 10K in a few weeks. Testing out some different distance events just to mix things up and keep it all fun. All in all, this was a great event and a lot of fun. I suspect I may make these events part of my regular regimen.

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Two videos…

February 20, 2026
In case you hadn’t seen these (and also for my friends at Adventure Film ), here are a couple of must-see running movies from Joel Wolpert:  Geoff Roes: Slogging to the Top
Runner in blue and red gear sprints across grassy terrain, mountains in background, cloudy sky.

Long time running…

October 27, 2015
Guess who’s back. Back again. ~ Eminem  Still working out some kinks in the site but hoping to be more active and on the regular up in this joint. Quick catch up: 2013: NYC was a bust. I experienced a heel problem which led to a hamstring problem and I shut down my quest for an NYC finish. At least for now. The remainder of 2013 was spent trying to get uninjured. 2014: Injuries persisted in 2014. When the heel/hammy started feeling ready to run again, I broke my ankle bouldering. Literally came off the wall a foot and a half off the ground and popped my ankle. Whee. So more recovery and I pretty much switched to riding mountain bikes for the year. 2015: Back at it in 2015. Running pretty well. A bit off my game from day’s past but still having fun. Even entered a few races which didn’t go well. Just trying to figure things out and stay happy/healthy. More to come, I promise. ~stubert.
Person fixing a flat tire on a mountain bike outdoors; green helmet, tan shirt, shorts.

Tabatas: Under-appreciated fitness boosters

August 24, 2013
I hurt myself today . ~ N.I.N. Ah the Tabata. Some people hate them, others love them. In the moment, they can be the bane of my existence but after rocking out a few sets, I really tend to notice the benefits. For the uninitiated, a Tabata can be applied to virtually any exercise type (cycling; swimming; push-ups; chess, I assume) but since I am a runner, I tend to knock these out while running. Go figure. Here’s the formula: Go as hard as you can for 20 seconds Rest for 10 seconds Repeat 8 times Feel free to do multiple sets Four minutes (per set) of activity doesn’t sound like much, but if done correctly, these can really help boost your fitness. I tend to replace strides with one Tabata on Fridays and will work in multiple sets as part of my Tuesday interval training. Just keep good form, really work the 20s and you’ll reap the benefits. ~stubert.