This is the 4th year in a row that I have said I wanted to run a Turkey Trot. The three years prior I have failed, mainly because of two factors… they aren’t close by my family’s house and we drink too much the night before. This year Abbe and I were determined to make it happen!

We arrived at my brother’s house the day before and had a pretty chill day aside from wrestling and chasing my two young nephews around. For dinner… beer and pizza!

Were we drinking? Yes. We were also very determined. My youngest brother Jeff made a bet with me. If I didn’t do the race I had to take a shot of Jameson at 10AM and also owe him $5. If I ran it, the bet reversed itself.

RACE DAY

Abbe woke up at like 5:30 or something crazy. I slept until 6-6:30 since we didn’t have to leave until 7:15AM.

It was a very cold morning, but the sun was shining and looked to be ideal running conditions.

We arrived, checked in and had 30 minutes to spare, so we sat in the car to keep warm. I drank more coffee because, well, I love coffee. I saw a guy wearing an Ironman NY hat and thought, ‘I wonder if I know him?’

We hit the bathrooms, got a warm up in and went to watch the 10k crew start. Although it was a local race, there were some legit looking runners.

As soon as the 300-400 or so of them dispersed the 5k group lined up in the corrals. Abbe and I were probably the oldest runners by 10 years or more up in the front. It was like the entire high school track and cross country team came out. Acne and racing flats everywhere. I looked off into the distance for a second and was kind of proud of my home town for breeding such serious runners.

The gun went off and we blasted away. I had no immediate plans other than to finish the race and not take a shot at 10AM, so I was just plugging along. The front runners were thick as thieves and maybe 50 deep as we ran down neighborhood streets. One thing I picked up from young runners is that they don’t know how to pace nor do they no how to dress when it’s cold out. So many clothes creating drag, my nightmare.

I ran up the right alley and made some progress passing people and just getting into my own pace. I had no watch, so I was just going by heart. As we hit the first mile marker there were 10-20 people ahead of me. There was no way in hell I was going to catch any of these young whippersnappers.

Miles 1 to 2 is a long out and back on a highway. It was here that my left shin started hurting. In my head I was like ‘What the hell? Why does my shin muscle hurt?’ Then it dawned on me. Tuesday I slammed my knee dead on into the corner of a cabinet while cleaning. I had a huge bruise on my knee cap and so most likely the patella tendon was agitated and pulling on my tibialis anterior muscle.

Abbe and I saw each other here and gave a wave.

The final mile was a mentally debilitating windy uphill through a neighborhood. The end was nowhere in sight.

The final half mile I was trying to catch a 15 year old to no avail.

I came in 13th overall and 1st AG with an 18:21. Fun fact: 5 of the people who were ahead of me were ages 15-17 and a 14 year old was on my heels as we finished.

After I finished I waited for Abbe who happened to PR (high five)! She also got 2nd AG! Double hardware coming home.

AND

Jeff took a shot of Jameson at 9:44AM and I am $5 richer! Happy Thanksgiving!