Thanksgiving Run, v. 3.1

I run nearly every day, so running itself is not out of the norm, even if it happens on a holiday. But what I don't do every day is run with people, and for the last several years running with people, in some form or another, has been my own personal Thanksgiving tradition. I have yet to achieve consistency with the tradition, just because my life has not quite settled down yet, but I've enjoyed each of the different iterations - running out towards Utah Lake with my friend Beth while I was an undergraduate, running in St. George with my brother Eric while I was at BYU for my master's degree, and now the Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot with friends here in Ann Arbor.

This year was year 2 of this newest iteration of my running tradition. Last year it was just Brady and me, but this year we managed to convince Kara, Rachel, Jonathan, Adam, and Jacob to come as well, enough for two cars. And this year instead of running the little local Turkey Trot in Ann Arbor, we went into Detroit and joined 10,000 other people running a mile or a 5K or a 10K downtown. Traffic getting in was horrendous; we missed the start of the Mashed Potato Mile at 7:30, and when we arrived at the Cobo Center and I saw the lines for the women's bathroom, I was sure I was going to miss the start of the 5K/10K at 8:00.

But with 10,000 people, it takes a lot of time to get everyone to, and then across, the starting line. By the time I made it out onto the street there were still masses making their way over to the start, and I felt relieved that I had not actually missed it...until I rounded the corner and realized that I had, by about eight minutes. They just hadn't managed to get everyone through the starting gate yet. Lucky for me. Because it would have been a pity to come all the way to Detroit just to cheer my friends on at the finish line. (Um, not that we weren't appreciative of your support, Jonathan.)

The race was an experience. 6 miles is a strange race distance for me. It's not long enough to be an endurance run for me, but not quite short enough to really hope for speed. I tried to run it fast, but there were so many people that it was hard to keep a consistent pace. Normally I'm used to the crowds thinning out after the first few minutes, maybe the first mile, but they really didn't start thinning out until the 5K people peeled off around mile 3, and even then there was a crowd and I did a lot of fancy footwork to try to pass more people than were passing me.

Still, it was kind of a fun race. Costumes are encouraged, and while most runners were decked out in standard running gear, there were enough people dressed up to keep me entertained while trying to maintain my speed. I would pick out the nearest person in a costume, and then try to pass them - the guy in the gorilla mask, the turkey (who was running surprisingly fast and was hard to pass), the elf brigade, Santa and his reindeer, a bunny with four carrots trotting along behind. I crossed the finish line well past my minimum goal time according to the clock, but if I subtract the time it took me to get over the starting line I think I did all right - not as well as I think I could have done, but not bad considering that right up until the start I wasn't sure I was going to try to run it fast.


(We really did run the race, I just don't have photos from the race site yet.)