Troy Turkey Trot 2008

What does Thanksgiving Day mean to me? It is very traditional. First, we drive to Troy - no matter what the weather is - then someone does the Turkey Trot, then we would eat and watch football later with the family. It is a wonderful bonding experience. Isn't this what all families do on Thanksgiving? If it isn't, then it should be. My family has done this since I was a little girl. My family would be bundled up and brought to Troy to see my grandmother and grandfather. My dad would go to the starting line. We would make our way down to the course and watch the race. When I was in third grade I did my first Turkey Trot grade school mile - I was slow then too. I did my next Turkey Trot when I was either in high school or college (I can't remember). My family missed this tradition two or three times as my mom and dad packed us up to go down to Disney World in Florida when we were in grade school and my dad had trouble reconciling missing the Turkey Trot with going to Florida but in the end, he and my sister and I were thrilled with our trips. At this point in my life, I understand why you would question missing the turkey trot- I mean, what is Thanksgiving without running a race??? Last year we went down to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving and did a Turkey Trot there so isn't it obvious that all people do this on Thanksgiving? We actually scheduled our trip to go to Pittsburgh only after we found out that there was a race on Thanksgiving day otherwise we were planning on leaving after the Troy Turkey Trot to go down to Pittsburgh. Turkey Trot is not just for runners either. My cousins and their families come out each year and watch the race at the Ale House. Maybe, just a thought, since they are at the Ale House, it really isn't about watching the race but being able to drink beer at 9 am??? NO, OF COURSE IT IS ABOUT WATCHING THE RACE!!! I came out for years and watched Joey and my father do this race. We come to this race each year with the intention of seeing friends we haven't seen in years, seeing friends we saw yesterday, seeing co-workers with their families, seeing family members that we won't see again until Christmas, seeing former and current athletes, seeing former coaches, seeing people that you only see on Thanksgiving day, and just enjoying a nice workout before the big meal. And if you don't think that Turkey Trots are important to Thanksgiving day, let the more than 5,000 people who ran yesterday as well as those people who ran in the Cardiac Classic and the Cohoes Turkey Trot tell you that it is. Turkey Trots are so important to Thanksgiving traditions that there are more people all over the US participating in Turkey Trots on Thanksgiving day than ever before. Thanksgiving and Turkey Trot - the perfect combination if you ask me.

This years Troy Turkey Trot was a little different than in previous years. Joe and I decided to run the 10K while my parents were running the 5K. We wanted to get there in time to see them run so we decided to leave the house at 8:30 to get to Troy by 9am and the 5K was to start at 9:30 am. They changed the course this year but we were still planning on parking in the same place as we have in years past. The first problem came with a traffic jam. We turned around and rerouted ourselves but then hit a closed street - we couldn't get to our originally planned parking place. We drove around Troy trying to find parking - so were a lot of other trotters. We ended up high on the hill in Troy next to a big glass building (don't know what it is but it is cool looking with what looks like a giant wooden half pipe inside the building). We walked down a lot of stairs then found our way to the course. We were later than we had planned so we just walked out to a spot to cheer for my parents. We got to talk to a couple of parents of our former athletes and a couple of Joe's former athletes along the way. Joe and I don't do the 5K because it is far too crowded so we went far enough away so that the crowd would have thinned a little so we could more easily find my parents. We waited and waited for the race to start and nothing. They started the race 15 minutes late!!! That kills anyones warm-up. The racers started coming and then they started to go around the island that we were standing on and we felt like we were being attacked. We found my dad!! We found my mom!!! We went back down the block once all 4500 participants went by - WOW that was a lot of people!!! Because they had started 15 minutes late, we were on a time crunch now - we wanted to see my parents finish but needed to hit the bathrooms, get off our warm clothes, and get out to the starting line. We watched the first 1000 people go by before we had to run to the bathrooms and get ready. We went back to the Troy Atrium and got ready and out to the starting line at 10:27 - 3 minutes before the start. I was planning on just going on a nice training run today since I am still recovering from the marathon so there was no warm-up for me today. Our race started 5 minutes late but that was okay, it gave me time to stretch my hip flexors, quads, and IT bands since they are all still a little tight from San Antonio. The airhorn went off and we were off. I settled into a nice run. I was breathing through my nose. I was happy. I saw my mom and waved. I saw my cousins and waved. Then these two women decided I was their pacer. I decided to have a little fun with them since I was running pretty easily. I know that that may sound mean but I am very competitive when it comes down to it - you didn't know this fact about me?? I started to increase the pace a little and the two women stuck with me. They were breathing hard though, I wasn't. I increased a little bit more - they were really struggling to keep up. One decided to play back and surge ahead. I laughed a little in my head because I knew I still had more left, I mean I ran 20 more miles than this a week and a half ago. I let her have her minute and she fell back to me - haha!!! I knew she would come back. Now, I could really see what they had in them. By the way, I was secretly hoping that they would challenge me back and make this a little more fun and competitive. They didn't. I picked it up again and then all of a sudden I was alone. The breathing had gone away, it was suddenly quiet. I dropped them. Then I decided that I could catch the people a little ways ahead of me. And now I was in my competitive mindset - I wasn't planning on doing that during this race but I felt good, oh well, this is my last race for a little while, why not make this one a little competitive. I caught the group ahead of me and passed them. Alone again. Another group was in my sightline, I passed them. I was in race pace and slightly uncomfortable - what a fantastic feeling!!! More people, I passed them. This is why we race!!! More people. I passed them too. Mile 5 - only one left and I had more in me. I just kept passing people. My legs were burning. I was breathing hard. The thought of "If I had only started race pace a little earlier I could have had a PR" was going through my thoughts. Mile 6 - only .2 left. Kept passing people. One person decided to race with me and I was psyched. She dropped off, oh well. Then we hit a slight hill and I thought "Where did the slight hill come from?? We have to finish on a slight uphill??? I hate that." I kicked! I finished hard. I felt accomplished. I was happy with my race. I wished I had started race pace earlier. Oh well. 1:04:34 - not my best but better than I had planned. The finishing area was pretty much cleared out because I had finished in the back of the pack which made it nice to just walk around and get water and a fantastic orange. My parents and Joe found me and we talked for a little while then went towards our cars. We had to walk up all those stairs to get to the car - Ouch!!! My knees were sore. And then we were off to our day of visiting family.

Today, I am sore. My calves are tight. My legs are not recovering from the marathon very well because of this and turkey raffle run but oh well I will take some easy running days this weekend and next week and all will be better. It was a good race. It was a good day. Meeting with Joe's family. Giving Cooper food and seeing his toys - the elephant and the monkey were some favorites. Eating with my family. Reading books to Sierra, watching Kaelah write words by herself, seeing Lila with her new glasses and reading jokes with Joey. I love the time we get with our families. It was a fun day.