Just a Bunch of Turkeys

We're keeping the tradition alive. Running the annual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving has become a tradition for us, and we hope it keeps going on for many, many years to come. Barrett and Afton have two trots under their belts now. We were proud of them for coming out and being a part of the festivities. They both ran the 1-mile race again and did great!

The girls ended up running by themselves this year (well, not really - there were a thousand or so other runners doing the 1-mile fun run too, but no one else they knew). Jessie & her girls were planning to come and do the run too, but they didn't end up making it so our girls hot footed it alone. We saw them off and took some video footage, then made our way back to the park to watch them finish. Way to go girls! You were awesome!

Ryan & the girls after their race

Ryan and I both had a great race - personal bests for both of us - so we were pleased. We didn't beat the turkey, but then again, we weren't expecting too. His young turkey legs have a little more kick in them than ours do. After the race, we met up with all our Goodman family clan, who were also there participating in the annual trot just like they do every year. Barrett, Afton & Aunt Diane all hung together while we ran. My cousin, Willy, beat us all, but he was just a few seconds ahead of his dad, Bishop Uncle Jim, who was just a few seconds ahead of me. Ryan & Morgan both finished within 30 seconds of each other too, and Rita (my awesome cousin who just had a baby this year and started running again after several years off), was there running too and did so great. Jodi was thinking about running despite the fact that she has been so busy in law school and hasn't been running much, but she decided to cheer from the sidelines. I loved that we were all there together on Thanksgiving morning - burning some calories, juicing the legs, living strong. Just a bunch of turkeys we are. And I love it!

(Front row: Willy & Afton; Back Row: Rita, Jodi, Bishop Uncle Jim, Kelli, Ryan & Barrett)

Ryan & Morgan post-race. Ryan finished in 53:09 (8:30 mile pace) and Morgan finished in 53:38. Way to go guys! And check out those race bib numbers...

On the way home, a good of friend of mine from work, Richard Garner, called. He and his daughter, Kourtney, had also run the race and this was Richard's first race ever. He's been running for about a year or two now and finally decided to do a race. Well, we've been talking a lot about running over the past year and his goal was to run a sub-8:00 average which would be 49:40. He sort of egged me on at work when I told him I wanted to run a 50:something race, telling me that I could do a sub-8:00 10k. Well, as it turns out, I could and I did. Funny thing - he finished in 48:55, beating his goal and just eight seconds ahead of me. I ran a 49:03 race (7:53 mile pace), and I was really happy about that. I've never run a sub-8:00 10k before. Neither Ryan or I ever saw Richard or Kourtney before, during or after the race since they started a little ahead of us in the pack (and there were thousands of people there). But 8 seconds! We were cracking up as we talked. He said that if he knew I was only seconds behind him, he would have run faster. I told him that if I knew I was only seconds behind him, I would have run faster still, just for bragging rights at the office for the next year....

As always, the trot was a fun way to kick off another great Thanksgiving. Can't wait to do it again next year! Hopefully we'll get a few more of our Goodman cousin running crew to join us in 2011.