Turkey Trot 5K Recap

For the third year in a row, we participated in our local Turkey Trot 5K fun run on Thanksgiving morning.  The race has grown in the three years that its been around, from 400 participants the first year, to over 1,200 this year - wow!  It's really cool to see so many people up and out early on a holiday morning, doing something fun for their health...and yes, most of us went on to have a large meal a few hours later, but hey - we started off the day right!

We took our annual shoe picture, and because I'm feeling nostalgic, here's all three years' worth:

 2012

 2011

 2010

What can I say, every family has their traditions...ours just happens to be a shoe picture!

It was nice to see so many people that we know at the race, especially our running club peeps.  Here's Wendy and her family - Wendy is new to running this year and has been so inspired by it that she started a blog!  You can read about her adventures at One Tough Mother Runner.

What cute costumes!

Here's my motley crew:

No costumes for us, although I was wearing a cute turkey trot headband:

"Eat, Sleep, Trot" - good theme for the day!

So this year, Sam, who has been working out and losing weight lately, wanted to run it in under 30 minutes.  Even before I hurt my ankle, that speed was never on my radar (haha, punny), so he and Jeff planned on running together while Max and I did our leisurely thing.  The only question was, would Max, who ran a half marathon nearly a year ago but hasn't run since, be able to make it through a 5K?  We'd soon find out!

The race began with Jeff and Sam close to the front.  They took off like they were on a mission, which they were.  Max and I started toward the back, and as much as I tried to run my own pace, we got caught up in the hectic speed of everyone right off the bat, and it took me a few minutes to calm down and run normally.  We settled into running, but about half a mile in, Max started to feel the effects of not having run in nearly a year, and he had to take a walk break.  I ended up being the bad mom and left him in the dust...actually, he was fine with me running on, so I did.  I didn't break any speed records for the 5K, but then again, I wasn't trying to, either.  Here's a shot of me coming toward the finish line:

I was running, I promise!  

It pictures, my short stride rarely looks like I'm running, unlike Sam:

 

Now THAT'S a long stride!  Sam was being a nice brother and ran Max in the last tenth of a mile.

Sam smashed his goal, finishing in 28:24 - woohoo, go Sam!  He was a bit spent at the end:

This is what a new PR looks like!

Later on, he recovered enough to give a big thumbs up to his run:

Another runner in the family!

Max was a little more beat up after he finished:

Proof that it's really hard to go from zero to 3.1 miles in one run.

After the race:

Turkey Trot, year three, is in the books!

Then we cleaned up and took our family portrait:

Doesn't everyone wear matching race t-shirts for their family pictures?

And ate our Thanksgiving meal:

Please note Paco waiting under the table, in case anything drops on the floor.

It was a great visit with the kids and I can't wait for them to come back at Christmas!