Turkey Surprise!

Well I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. My nephew Thomas showed up at the race also. We did a warm-up together and discussed, among other things, how embarassing it would be to get beat by the guy running with his dog on a leash.

Now as I mentioned, Wednesday, I've run this race 8 times in the past. Usually in bad weather (snow, mud, even fog!) but Thursday's weather was brisk but clear. The course was soft but certainly not sloppy. It was a beautiful day to run.

I started too fast (being that I'm still just working my way into shape), but other than getting slowly passed throuhout the race (was 20th at the first turn, about 1/2 mile), I have no evidence because I didn't wear a watch.

Around mile 4 I did indeed get passed by the guy running with his dog. And to add to the embarassment, the dog quickly stopped to squat. I got ahead and then they started running and passed me again. About 1/4 mile later, this squatting - passing - getting passed experience happened yet again.

I did not get passed during the final mile, which was a plus. I finished in 48:59, 46th out of 224. At the awards, I was hoping for 3rd in my age group, but they didn't call my name. Then when they called the 2nd place guy, it was a soccer coach I know, wearing a bright yellow shirt, and I thought, "I don't remember getting passed by that guy."

Much to my surprise, they called me 1st and I won a trophy with a turkey on it!