Athlete Race Recap: Thanksgiving Day Races, World Triathlon Grand Final, Jingle Jog 5K, & Ugly Sweater 5K

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Full Circle Endurance athletes!  Even with the holidays in full swing, athletes are still finding fun races to participate in!

• YMCA Turkey Trot - Buffalo, New York
• Hampstead Turkey Trot - Hampstead, New Hampshire
• Baldwinsville Kiwanis Turkey Day Races - Baldwinsville, New York
• Little Falls Turkey Trot - Little Falls, New York
• Liverpool Turkey Trot - Liverpool, New York
• 2022 World Triathlon Grand Final Abu Dhabi Olympic Distance - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Jingle Jog 5K - Clinton, New York
• Ugly Sweater 5K - Utica, New York

YMCA Turkey Trot

On Thanksgiving Day, Daria Bakina ran the YMCA Turkey Trot in Buffalo, New York!

This race’s big claim to fame is that it is the oldest consecutively-run footrace in the world!  The point-to-point 8K course takes 10,000 runners on a tour of the city of Buffalo.

Daria hoped to have a strong race here this year, and she did! Her time was 2:32 faster than when she ran this same race on Thanksgiving Day in 2021!

Way to go, Daria!

Hampstead Turkey Trot

Heidi Caruso ran the Hampstead Turkey Trot in Hampstead, New Hampshire on Thanksgiving Day!

This is one of Heidi’s absolute favorite races, and this year, she was able to run it with her son James!  Heidi reports that James is/was much faster than her, but that she was happy that he stayed with her so they could enjoy the experience together.

Heidi finished strong and with a finish time she was proud of.  Great job, Heidi!

Baldwinsville Kiwanis Turkey Day Races

Lisa Crockford and Rebecca Dottolo both ran in the Baldwinsville Kiwanis Turkey Days Races on Thanksgiving Day in Baldwinsville, New York!

Lisa ran the 10K, and in what has become an extremely common theme this fall, she was using this race as a supported training day.  She reported that she dressed perfectly for the conditions and she was able to hit the targets we set in the workout that she ran!  Way to go, Lisa!

Rebecca ran the 5K, and she did so with her three boys.  Rebecca gets so much joy sharing exercise and experiences like this with her kids, and the four of them had a great time together.  Hooray!

Little Falls Turkey Trot

Mary Houck ran the Little Falls Turkey Trot in Little Falls, New York on Thanksgiving Day!

Mary has been building her running back up after having to deal with some medical things this fall.  I gave her a pretty strong speech about how she had to be smart during this race and not let her ego get in the way of her executing a smart race that would allow us to continue to build toward her goals and progress her running.  Mismanaging a race at this critical stage could have been very costly.

Thankfully, Mary heeded my advice and executed a thoughtful, smart race that left her and her body feeling great both as she crossed the finish line and afterwards.  

Great job, Mary!

Liverpool Turkey Trot

Coming off of her big weekend in Philadelphia, Maureen Novak ran the Liverpool Turkey Trot in Liverpool, New York on Thanksgiving Day!

Maureen ran this race with a friend and had a great time!  This is especially exciting since she did just race a goal race in Philadelphia four days earlier.  Awesome job, Maureen!

2022 World Triathlon Grand Final Abu Dhabi Olympic Distance

Carolyn Classen traveled all the way from Pennsylvania to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to represent Team USA and race in the 2022 World Triathlon Grand Final Olympic Distance on Saturday, November 26, 2022!

When Carolyn first emailed me to ask me about coaching in 2019, she mentioned that qualifying to represent the United States of America at the World Triathlon Grand Final was a major goal of hers.  It took us three years, but she made it!

Carolyn’s entire family joined her for the trip and they loved the experience of being in the UAE.  (Especially her daughter Andrea, who actually is fluent in Arabic!)  Carolyn enjoyed the warm swim and seeing jellyfish beneath her as she swam.  The bike course was very technical with a lot of turns, but Carolyn handled it great.  On the run, the temperatures and conditions of the day made themselves known, but Carolyn modified well and adjusted her run to be on feel so she could finish strong as the 24th person in her age group IN THE WORLD!

A goal many years in the making: ACHIEVED!  Congratulations, Carolyn!

Jingle Jog 5K

On Saturday, November, 26, 2022, Kara Bisaccia ran the Jingle Jog 5K in Clinton, New York!

Kara is training for some big goals next year, and as such, I gave her the option of racing this for fun or pushing the effort based on how she was feeling after her regular week of training.  It’s been a little while since Kara has gone out and really pushed herself in a race, and she decided to go for it!

She was able to run steady and strong throughout all 3.1 miles and finished feeling accomplished and excited!

Hooray, Kara!

Ugly Sweater 5K

On Sunday, December 4, 2022, Kara Bisaccia ran the Ugly Sweater 5K in Utica, New York!

Kara really loves little local races, so this was a good option for a supported training run as part of her training for her bigger goals.  She was able to run faster than she did in last week’s Jingle Jog 5K, and this after a bigger training week this week!  

Way to go, Kara!