Turkey Day Races

Sis and I after a Dallas Trot couple years ago. Be jealous of my sweet headband.

This year I am not racing on American Thanksgiving.  It’s the first time in as long as I can remember that I haven’t.  Feeling nostalgic, I went and looked up some of my old Turkey Day race results.  Much to my surprise, I found out I once got 2nd place in my age group in the Dallas 8 mile Turkey Trot.  I had no idea.  That race gets like 40,000+ people, so yay for me, haha!

Here’s me and my sis taking the race extremely seriously (yes, that’s me doing the Running Man dance while Running)

The race in Dallas has gotten so big and crowded, that I’m going to take a break from it for a while.  Can you imagine that many people with starting corrals????  It’s chaos!  I hear they’re making changes, and hopefully they can get it worked out.

That said, there’s an alternative around where I live:  The North Texas Turkey Trot.  I ran the 10k option last year and enjoyed it.  Here I am before and after…

Throw your deuces up.

I eat you turkey!

A lot of people like to run these races to have an excuse to eat guilt free later in the day.  Most of my friends tho, do so for another reason:  to have an excuse to tailgate at 9 in the morning.  Yup.

Here’s some of us after a Dallas Trot a couple years ago…

We are so thankful.

And here’s some of us after last year’s N.TX Trot…

I’m in the background, but I prefer this pic of my Drasian friend (drunk Asian).                           Click image to enlarge.

Since I’m not racing this year, I think I’ll still be out there early to tailgate cheer for my friends.  Then it’s off to celebrate with the family!

How ’bout y’all?  Any Turkey Day racers out there?   Other plans to give thanks?

Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot #blog

The Dallas Turkey Trot is an extremely popular race in North Texas, but I may be done with it.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great cause and the course is not bad, but there’s just too many people.  It takes place on Thanksgiving morning in downtown Dallas.  “Runners” can choose between the 5K or 8 mile option.  Traditionally a group of our family and friends make our way down there for the 8 mile race.  But we didn’t do it this year, and probably won’t again until they get a coral system or staggered start times, or the like.

Before the race with moms, friends, sis, and 39,995 of our closest co-trotters.

I think they have around 40,000 people who show up.  Most do the 5K.  Many of them are walkers.  Many of them have strollers, or dogs, or strollers with dogs in them (no joke, I actually saw this!).  Many force their way as close to the start line as possible.  The result is a lot of bobbing and weaving.  It does clear up for us 8 milers after we pass the finish for the 5K, but before that it is chaos on the course.  And I have a theory why there are so many people who do this race:  For many of them, this is the only race they’ll do all year, which is fine, but I think that they think if they walk/run 3.1 miles then they can over-eat all Turkey Day guilt-free.  That’s just my working theory tho, I’m still in the research phase.

Tailgating after the race in a scenic location.

That all said, I hope they get it worked out.  It has just gotten too big and out of hand for my taste.  If they can get the start figured out, I’d love to come back to it.  We’ll see what happens.  In the mean time, since I knew I wouldn’t have a speedy time, I took this race not so seriously….as evident in the video below of my sis and I finishing the 8 miler last  year.

I thought the running man was an appropriate dance to do in the middle of a run.  I need to find a robot run to race next.

Peace out Internet!