2018 BCS Turkey Trot 5K Recap!

Another cute race shirt - I have really loved all of the Turkey Trot shirts over the years, and this one was another winner!

If it's Thanksgiving Day in College Station, you know that means we start it off by running in our local Turkey Trot 5K.  It's a low-key race with no timing chips and no race clock, but the turnout is getting bigger each year - the race began in 2010 with a little over 400 participants, and this year there were nearly 1500 participants...men, women, children, grandparents, dogs - you name it, everyone in the family shows up.  We have become more and more casual about the race, and this year our group picture was taken about one minute before the race started:

Left to right:  Julia, Karen, me, Ben, Andi, Diane, Jeff, Mick, Heather

And then we ambled over to the starting line, the race began...and Diane and Heather ran back to Diane's car to switch out headphones.  Eh, no big deal, I just waited for Diane to get back and believe it or not, we weren't even close to being the last people across the start line.  Jeff ran with us because he just wanted a nice chill run - with his marathon training, he has to be careful as the big race gets closer and closer - he doesn't need to do anything to hurt himself right now.

We ran 2:1 intervals; I'd forgotten how hilly the neighborhood is that we run in, but there were constant hills.  Or slopes, depending on where you're from, haha.  I felt pretty good during the run which is notable only because for the last six months or so, running has not been easy for me, even when it should have been.  We ran all of the intervals except for the one last big hill right before the finish line, because, as Diane explained to Jeff, we had to conserve so that we'd have a good strong finish (and finish line photo, of course).  Jeff was all for that, and decided that we needed to do jazz hands as we finished.  Diane's husband was at the finish line and got a picture:

Love the guy behind us getting into the jazz hands spirit!

After the race, it was pie and beer time - the beer drinkers were all having Dammit Jim! flavor (flavor?  is that how you describe a beer's name?) which cracked me up based on the name alone.  Cheers were made all around:

Diane and Jeff

Mick and Ben (Diane's sons)

Heather (Diane's daughter-in-law) and Diane

Instead of "hold my beer" it was "hold my pie" - and Jimmymeow obliged...and even returned it to me, uneaten!

After the race we were just hanging around, talking and enjoying the post-race fun, when the volunteers started passing out leftover whole pies and bunches of bananas - we all scored!  Plus the pies were already cut into little slivers, which made for a quick snack on the drive home (or so I've heard...):

Pie for breakfast or first dessert?  Either way, Thanksgiving began and ended with pumpkin pie!

One last item.  Diane's son Ben was wearing a shirt that several of us read wrong, so I wondered what y'all would say you see that it says (good night Irene I really cannot write today).  Here's the shirt with good-natured Ben letting me take the picture, knowing it would be on the blog - thanks, Ben!

So tell me - what do you read this as?

As usual, it was another fun Turkey Trot from beginning to end - there's nothing better than starting Thanksgiving day with a 5K and the Renegades!