Thursday morning (Thanksgiving Day) was the Eastside Turkey Trot in Aurora, Ohio, about 30 minutes from my hometown of Chesterland. My dad and I ran the race together. I had registered some weeks before after scouting out potential Thanksgiving holiday races in northeast Ohio. We were coming to the area for the holiday, and these days I like to do a quick online reconnaissance of road races in places I will be visiting. I never know when there might be a 5K I could do.
It was a miserable morning, cold, drizzly, and generally the kind of morning which should be spent indoors drinking hot coffee, bundled in pajamas, and looking out at the world, not spent outdoors bundled in many layers of special fabrics contemplating the fact that one has to run four miles. However, we and several hundred other nutjobs showed up for this race which started and ended at the Aurora Farms Premium Outlets Megaplex and if that's not a statement about the American love of consumerism I don't know what is. Maybe they wanted us to come back on Friday and go shopping?
Besides, I love running in bad weather. The crappier, the better! Frigid? Drizzle? Wind? No problem! All three at once? Awesome!
As far as races go, it was fine. Four miles isn't a distance with which I have much strategic racing experience, my preferred distance being the 5K. In true scatterbrain style I failed to activate the Garmin at the start line so all of my distance and pace data is off. Moron. I still averaged about 8:18/mile, and finished the race in 33:15 or so. Update: official race results were finally posted, although not broken down by age group, and I finished in 33:16, and appear to be fifth in my age group and 122/299 overall.
The race course doubled back on itself so at one point we middle-of-the-packers were passed by the front-runners heading in the opposite direction. I rarely if ever get a chance to see race leaders so it was very interesting. There was one hardcore guy (dressed only in shorts and wispy tank top) who was up with the top male runners who must have been in his mid- to late sixties. I just thought, "Rock on, old dude."
I liked the course; it was broad, gently sloped, well-tended and marked, and not overly difficult. Aurora Police were on hand to halt traffic, which was nice, considering I have run road races where traffic was allowed to continue going past.
I hope the race returns next year. Or whatever year it is that we return to Chesterland for Thanksgiving.
Now, the Shocking Development. Friday I braved the insanity and went to Beachwood Mall with my mom. We ended up at Ann Taylor (again) and I found some cute stuff on sale. To my EXTREME SHOCK (and delight) I am now wearing SIZE SIX pants from Ann Taylor. I know their sizing runs bigger than other stores so I might not necessarily be able to squeeze into a size six from, say, J Crew or whatever. But. The label on my pants, pants I am wearing right now says "6." This is totally unprecedented. I haven't worn a size 6 since I was in high school when I was 15 or 16 years old.
Tomorrow I will see if I suffered any collateral damage from all the feasting last week. I hope my exercise efforts offset the increased consumption. I ran four miles on Thursday, two on Friday (plus weightlifting), and six on Saturday. I am so close to my Weight Watchers goal weight that any setback will make me very disappointed. I really, really want to reach my goal before the end of the year.
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