On Thanksgiving morning, Brad, Kevin, and I headed out to join the fun of the Anti-Turkey Trot. We’d planned on doing the big Detroit Turkey Trot downtown, but the prospect of getting up super early, fighting traffic on the roads and crowds on the race course, and paying a premium for an impressively ugly shirt left us unwilling to push the registration button. When Kevin found the considerably smaller Anti-Turkey Trot that started at the wonderful hour of 10 a.m. and was close to my parents’ house, we knew we’d found our race.
Brad decided to do the 5k, while Kevin and I opted for the 10k. Well, 5kish and 10kish. Both races ended up giving us a little extra bang for our buck by measuring long. I was surprisingly hyped up and nervous as this was my first 10k race. Brad, on the other hand, was cool as a cucumber about his first 5k.
Pre-race photos
The race was almost shockingly laid-back and casual. There had been maps floating around, but none of the turns were marked in the least. Seriously? Chalk is cheap, people. Now, this wasn’t so much of a problem for a middle-of-the-packer like me, but when you’re LEADING THE PACK LIKE KEVIN WAS, it’s a problem!
Most of the participants took the turn for the 5k. After that, it was pretty spread out. There was a couple of times we got snagged by traffic lights and had to wait, times when the sidewalk disappeared and we had to jump out into the road and/or off-road it on grass, a single-track bike route, or construction gravel. My favorite (sarcasm) part of the course happened between mile 5 and the finish. This part of the course followed sidewalks along the M59 shopping corridor. Driveways galore, a sidewalk that curved like a lazy river around store signage, and drivers in search of last minute dinner ingredients who couldn’t seem to figure out why all these people were running around with numbers pinned to themselves. The saving grace was my wonderful hubby, who came back after his finish to find me and run me in the last 3/4 mile.
Along the course, there was one aid station being manned by a person with a camera. She caught these pictures of Brad and Kevin and then abandoned ship. There was no photographer when I rolled through.
Here comes Brad, and there goes Kevin.
Kevin must have snuck up on her as there was only this blurry picture of his backside. Ha!
There was, however, another photographer at the finish line. Somehow, she missed both Kevin and Brad. Boo! We’ll just blame the fact that they were moving at smoking fast speeds! How fast, you ask? Well, Brad finished his first-ever 5k race in fourth place! His time was 22:44 for the 3.4 mile run. Yes, he definitely got all the speedy genes! And Kevin. Well! Winner, winner, turkey dinner! Kevin came in first place in the 10k with a time of 41:02! Wowzas! I’m surrounded by speedy people! However, redeeming fact about the photographer: she did get the following gem of yours truly.
I’ll have you know, I passed this happy woman before the finish line, but somehow the hand-done race results show her finishing 2 seconds before me. Hmmm. Which leads us to…
Reason 862 why I love my Garmin: for when the race organizers screw up the finish times and race results.
And that, my friends, is the recap of my first 10k, Brad’s first 5k, and Kevin’s first first-place 10k finish!
After the race, we headed back to my parents’ house, where the smell of turkey was already perfuming the air. There are, sadly, few pictures of the Thanksgiving feast. I blame a combination of the post-race duh factor (also known as the just-be-happy-that-I’m-upright-and-not-taking-up-an-entire-couch factor) and the fact that the table was full of mutinous, don’t-take-my-picture teenagers (me, the shutterbug=vastly outnumbered).
Kevin snagged this photo of the spread as everyone was shuffling over to the table.
Even though there might not be extensive photo documentation, everything was WONDERFUL. An abundance of supremely delicious food, 18 family persons, 2 family dogs, and, quite possibly (I didn’t check), a partridge in the pear tree. Oh, and, spectacular hubby that he is, Kevin lent me his calf sleeves. My first Thanksgiving dinner rocking compression sleeves under my jeans!
Family photo in front of the fire to end the night
There is so much for which to be thankful! Hope your Thanksgiving was happy!
NICE race !! I hate when they screw up times. Jerks. Glad you had the Garmin!!
So happy you guys had a great Turkey day!!
Glad you had a great Thanksgiving
Way to beat the nice girl at the end! I’ve got the same Garmin and love it! You sure are in the midst of some speedy dudes. Good grief! Your Thanksgiving meal looked like it was awesome. I’m glad you had fun.
Aw, sounds like a PERFECT Thanksgiving! Congrats on a great 10k-ish race! I love that picture of you. And tell Kevin and Brad to share the wealth of speed with the rest of us!