My first Turkey Trot

It felt as though there were two Fridays this week: Wednesday and Friday. It was kind of nice, but having to go back to work today—after having the day off yesterday for Thanksgiving wasn’t so nice. But I did accomplish a lot at work since my phone wasn’t ringing off the hook all day long.

Since Wednesday felt like a Friday, it was only natural Craig and I met up at our favorite coffee shop for our weekly coffee date. Good conversation always eludes during this time: family, our future, jobs, and where we want to be in the next 3-5 years were our topics of conversation.

After work on Wednesday, I went downtown to pick up our bibs for the Turkey Trot the following day. I also had to get some new makeup at Nordstrom, so I walked between the running store and the mall. It only took me about 10 minutes, and it wasn’t all that cold, so it was a pleasant walk amongst the Christmas lights.

Thursday morning it was Turkey Trotting time.

Craig was supposed to be taking a nice picture with me. What a goof. Life is never dull with him around that’s for sure.

I was surprised Craig was willing to do the Turkey Trot with me. He hasn’t been running lately, but I was glad he agreed to join me. It is always more fun with someone you know. We talked about making pilgrim costumes but never took the time to do so. Oh well, maybe next year.I think this was only the third year Anchorage has had a Turkey Trot. Last year there were about 500 people, but this year 1500 people came out to run! It is so encouraging to see friends, families, and people of all abilities out there running and walking. It seems running is becoming quite the trend. Whatever motivates people, it makes me happy more people are exercising.

The race was a 5K around the Park Strip in downtown Anchorage. You had to run two laps to complete the full 5K distance. I did not race this event since my hamstring is still bothering me. I started out with Craig and ran most of the first lap with him. I was freezing cold, so I asked him if I could run faster to try and warm up. (It was 9*F with some pretty chilly winds as well.) I picked up the race but never warmed up and didn’t even break a sweat. (Compare that to the winner who ran in shorts. Oh, and the winner also lapped me.)

I’ve been trying to lay off the miles this week in order to heal my hamstring, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to go for another run this morning. It might have only been 3*F, and I might have frozen my tush off, but it was the best run all week.

I ran 4 miles by myself and then another mile with Sadie (the pooch). They weren’t fast miles, but it was still good to get out there an run!I don’t have any big plans for the weekend, but I won’t have any problems keeping myself busy. Baking bread, going to the dog park, ordering my Christmas photo cards, and running errands are on my to-do list.