Turkey Trots

[SumoRunner]

Anybody doing a Thanksgiving day race? I'll be running one in Cohoes, NY for the 4th year in a row. It's 3.5 miles and this is the 44th annual. There are trots in several local cities and towns, most of which are big, anywhere from 600 to 3200, but the one I do has only about 100 runners. I generally like smaller races, but I do this one mostly because entry is free, there's no hassle with parking and it's the closest one to home.

I've been running it faster each year. 40:42 in 2005, 39:50 in 2006, 35:37 in 2007, so I have to shoot for under 35 minutes this time. My last 5K was 9:37 per mile average so I ought to be able to do it.

 

[Mary]

Anybody doing a Thanksgiving day race? I'll be running one in Cohoes, NY for the 4th year in a row. It's 3.5 miles and this is the 44th annual. There are trots in several local cities and towns, most of which are big, anywhere from 600 to 3200, but the one I do has only about 100 runners. I generally like smaller races, but I do this one mostly because entry is free, there's no hassle with parking and it's the closest one to home.

I've been running it faster each year. 40:42 in 2005, 39:50 in 2006, 35:37 in 2007, so I have to shoot for under 35 minutes this time. My last 5K was 9:37 per mile average so I ought to be able to do it.

No run for me, except to the table, but good luck Jack with yours!

 

[kodi]

Our local Turkey Trot was this past weekend and unfortunately, having trained for it I was out of town, so none for me this year. Probably my next race is a 1/2 marathon in January.
Good Luck Jack.

 

[Guest]

My husband and I are running a 5 mile Turkey Trot here in Austin.

 

[tommy]

I can't miss my neighborhood touch football game. It's the treacherous old geezers against the young wippersnappers. Good luck with your runs y'all!

 

[SumoRunner]

Here's another one. Yesterday I did a Turkey Raffle Run which was not a race exactly. It's an hour run where they lay out a one mile loop in a park and you do as many loops as you want. Each time you pass Go you get another raffle ticket. More loops, more chances to win. Some run as much as 8 miles, some walk with their whole family including strollers. There may have been 400 people. The fun part was you never got separated from the crowd and had to run alone as us slower runners usually do. There was a constant flow of people passing and being passed.

The entry fee was either a few dollars or contribute an item to the raffle in addition to the turkeys. There were dozens of breads, pies, cookies, etc. I ran 5 but didn't hang around for the raffle. I just gave my tickets to some random family on the way out.

 

[Spooly]

Running the Atlanta half marathon Thanksgiving morning. Less than one year (11 months) after having my aortic valve replaced with an On-X mechanical valve. Really looking forward to it! This is my first posting - Lots of good stuff on this site.

 

[tprice54]

Spooly, congrats on running a half marathon less than a year post op! That is quite an accomplishment....please post a report on how you did!

 

[ctyguy]

We are doing a 5 miler....but its gonna be COOOOOOLLLLDDD !!!!!!

 

[SumoRunner]

Running the Atlanta half marathon Thanksgiving morning. Less than one year (11 months) after having my aortic valve replaced

Sounds about right. I was probably up to about 10 miles in training by one year out but my longest races are 15k. Haven't done a half since 1987. I've been thinking of doing one on Jan 1st though. Just need to keep up my current training load and it's doable.

 

[kodi]

Running the Atlanta half marathon Thanksgiving morning. Less than one year (11 months) after having my aortic valve replaced with an On-X mechanical valve. Really looking forward to it! This is my first posting - Lots of good stuff on this site.

Good for you. I did one 6 months post op. Just don't expect too much; it will be a great accomplishment no matter what your time is. Just listen to your body. Good Luck

 

[Guest]

I picked up our race packets on Tuesday morning. The last 2 races I ran they put the timing chip in a strip attached to the bib. Not so for Turkey Trot. I asked where's the chip and was told you have to pick it up at the booth at the race. A lady overheard me and when we were getting our shirts she said this race wasn't up on the technology yet. I said that's ok, I wanted to be sure where the chips would be, besides I run for the t-shirts. This years Turkey Trot shirt is really nice, long sleeved with a big turkey on the front.

The announcer said there were 12,000 runners. It was warm, 60s and overcast at 9:30 a.m. The route had a lot of rolling hills, a new challenge for me. Austin running courses are definitely different from Dallas. I finished the 5 miles in 46:47, 9:21 pace, overall place 1501, 42nd in my age group. My husband finished in 43:43, 8:45 pace, overall place of 1110, 56th in his age group.

We left right after we finished, our thanksgiving dinner was in the oven, all I had to do was fix the mashed potatoes, heat the corn, and put the rolls in the oven when we got home. We had a very nice Thanksgiving.

 

[kodi]

Glad you and your husband both had good races. Nice times and some pretty good AG finishes with a large crowd. Congratulations. What's next?

 

[tommy]

Great job. Louise!!!1
Spooly, let us know how you did!

 

[SumoRunner]

I ran my 3.5 mile TT in 34:04 (9:45/mile), a minute faster than last year. Got 3rd place in the 60+ age group. It was a nice day, maybe 35 degrees, a bit breezy but sunny and clear. That brings my hardware total to six this year, two 1st, one 2nd and three 3rds from a total of 18 races. In the 30 years prior to turning 60 I had garnered one, that's (1), age group placement in well over 300 races. There's a lesson to be learned there I just forget what it is.

I picked up our race packets on Tuesday morning. The last 2 races I ran they put the timing chip in a strip attached to the bib. Not so for Turkey Trot. I asked where's the chip and was told you have to pick it up at the booth at the race.

Chip timing has been around several years but only recently have races in my area begun to use them and only at the bigger events. The Trot I ran with less than 150 runners did not need a chip. They can still work out the results in short order with so few people. Although they did miss one person who should have gotten an award.

Chip systems are expensive, not just the set of chips but the mats, cables and software to capture it. The clubs or event management companies have a major investment to amortize from the chip systems they already have. Now the newer technology can embed a throwaway chip in the bib number and read it from several feet above the mat. Previously they had to be within a foot of the mat to register, which is why they always attached to the shoe.

The regular Tyvek bibs were about $2 each and the recyclable chips which might have been $25 each could be used many many times and be cost effective. I don't know the cost of the new bibs with embedded chips but you can bet it's more than $2 and since they're throwaway, the cost is repeated for each race.

 

[Tom Walski]

I ran the Berwick, PA Run for the Diamonds on Thanksgiving day. It was the 100th anniversary running of this race which is one of the oldest continuously held races in the world.

The race is 9 miles and has only one major hill (it goes up over 800 ft in a mile). I'd call it a mountain.

I did it in 73:15 (8:09 per mile) which got me 505 th out of 1308. Back in my younger and pre-valve surgery days, I could do it in 54 minutes.

I've been nursing a sore knee the last few days.

 

[Spooly]

Thanks to all of you guys for the positive words and suggestions. Atlanta half marathon Thanksgiving morning went very well and was my first longer race post-op (did some 10K's over the summer). A beautiful morning without incident. Jogged pretty slowly and finished around 2:25, really wanted to finish as a goal and not really run for time. Have historically run around 2 hrs for half marathons and have run 3 full length marathons in the 5 hour range (Alanta, Marine Corp, and New York City), so not necessarily that fast to begin with. I did run a 50 minute 10K last year before I really started feeling poorly, which was pretty fast for me.

 

[Booshmeister]

I did the turkey trot/walk with my wife and daughter this year. The walk was about half flat and half hills. The downhill was a snap but when be got to the uphill section, about 7-8% and 1/2 mile, I thought we were running out of oxygen. My promise to my daughter before surgery was to do the Ragnarly Wasatch Back run next summer. I'll really have to work at it to have any kind of chance.

 

[kodi]

Congratulations on your run/walk. Finishing is most important.
I've never done the Ragnar Wasatch Back but have friends that do it every year. I understand it's a blast. If you need an extra runner, let me know, it would be great to have two valve replacement people on the same team. You know, come to think of it, this might be a good event for the VR/CA group that run relay marathons. I'll have to send the info to Dave at CA.

 

[SumoRunner]

Here's the thing about meetups. If you want to have one, just announce you're doing it and see if anyone else wants to join in. There is no formal process.

Sometimes it is just two or three. I had an encounter last August with one of the UK women who happened to be in the US on vacation. We did a trail run together. Many other small meetups have happened throughout the year.