Turkey Day, November 22, 2007

Thursday, November 22, 2007
I’m glad I can run.
I ran my first Turkey Trot in 1973, in Rockville Centre. Even in the years I wasn’t running, I would usually find a Thanksgiving race. It’s convenient, because you rarely have to go far to find one. I figure I’ve run at least 25. A couple weeks ago I was looking for a local race, and good ole coolrunning quickly identified one right here in my very own hometown! So I google-mapped the address, and it was literally right around the corner from my house!! And it was a trail run!!! And it was free!!!! Ok, not really free, but no money if you bring a food donation for the local food pantry. Of course, as I ran there, and don’t care to run carrying a can each of creamed eels and corn nog, I simply brought a twenty with me. Funny thing is, I would have resented paying a mandatory 12-15 bucks to run some road race, but didn’t mind at all paying a voluntary 20. Luckily it was the day after pay day, one of the few days each month I actually have 20 dollars.
The race wasn’t quite as close as I thought. Nearly ½ mile down the road, then ¼ mile down the driveway.
On the side of the road, about halfway to the driveway, is a DEAD TURKEY. I slow down and take a look. Did you know that male turkeys have about 5,000 feathers? They’re brown. Mostly. Looking closely in shifting light, you can see how truly colorful and iridescent they are. Green, red, orange, blue, they’re all there. It reminded me of making Easter eggs as a kid; I’d try to make multicolored kaleidoscopic psychodelic eggs by putting them sequentially in all the differently colored dyes. They came out brown. Just like brown eggs straight out of the carton. It took me years to figure out how to tie-dye eggs. I was so fascinated by the feathers’ pretty shimmering colors that I totally missed the omen. Two days later I realized the humor of a dead turkey on the way to a turkey trot.
There were about 15 people gathered around a small, yet warm, fire, and more arriving by foot and car. The trails were still wet and slushy from the recent snow followed by 30-35 degree temperatures; I’d rather run in light slush than frozen ruts. The day was fairly warm, about 35.
There were about 25-30 people at the run (it’s blissfully low-key). It was a nice hilly, snowy trail. See photo (I'm wearing the bandana). In other words, very hard to run uphill if you’re fat and out of shape. I didn’t even try to race, just enjoyed the day. Something like 29:55 for (a very roughly approximated) 3 miles. Met some very nice people, including many of my neighbors and local runners. Great job Kurt,Chris, Mom, Phil, Amy, etc.