TNT-NRA Showdown

In 2009 someone thought it would be a good idea to have a dual meet type race between the Tuesday Night Turtles and the Narragansett Running Association.  Our two clubs have done training runs together, had coffee together and drank a beer or two together.  So we thought it would be fun to have a club versus club 5k.  On July 29, 2009 it happened, and the Tuesday Night Turtles came out victorious!

Overall the race was a great success; we had good weather, a descent turnout and a well put together after-party with pizza and beer.  So of course, we said, "We should do this again next year".  But 2010 came and went, and although it was talked about here and there the race never happened.

Flash forward to 2011: Another push was on, mostly by the NRA, to have another club race.  After a couple of dates were set and postponed, the teams finally decided on October 5th.  Since TNT did most of the organizing of the 2009 event, it was up to the NRA to do the work in 2011.  They came up with a crazy scoring system - as opposed to the cross country style scoring we used in 2009 - they picked the venue, set-up the course and picked the after-party location.  In the end, all of these things came together just fine.

Now it was said that the NRA was super-stoked for this race, trash talking etc.  They also have a much bigger club than we do, and Turtles don't usually show up en masse to races these days.  So I was in major recruiting mode.  I was emailing Turtles that I haven't seen in years, emailing the club with weekly pleas to show up.  I made every effort possible to get a good showing, and surprisingly, it paid off!  We had 27 runners on the starting line, with a couple more there for support. The NRA only mustered 13!  Right away it was a moral victory.

The race started at 6:45 p.m. and would be run in the dark.  From the gun, I knew that the NRA's Mike Galoob would take it out and get the victory.  I am not in any kind of 5k shape, so I just wanted to hold second place and hope my teammates came through behind me.  Standing at the finish line after I crossed, I couldn't even see the runners coming in because it was so dark.  But it soon became clear that we had more runners in then they did, and before half the runners were in, I headed off with Jackie to do the second part of our workout knowing we were probably victorious once again.

Jackie and I ran the course again with a few intervals and pulled back into the parking lot to see pretty much every NRA runner gone and the Turtles were still BS'ing in the lot.  It was great to see everyone come together and get excited about a single race.

Afterward, many of us headed over to the Sonoma Pub and enjoyed some food and beer with our enemies - er - friends, the NRA.  It was a good turnout all around.  Next year, we set the rules and pick the venue, so it should be interesting!

TNT Pre-Race