Turkey's soaring

I woke up with an attitude that it was not cold outside. It was 45F which is cold for us flatlander thinblooders. The sun was coming up and I had a race to run.

I put the top down on the A4 and toodled on down the empty byways of Orlando to Lake Eola with Coldplay rising up from the speakers. I parked at a middle school track and felt indominatable. There's no explanation why. I just felt that way.

I strolled down to the party/start area and picked up my number and looked around. The Turkey Trot is a running family reunion. I had 45 minutes of mixing and mingling before the start. Over 4,400 runners/walkers were registered to benefit Seniors First, an organization I will have to join soon, based on the perks they say they get.

With ten minutes until the gobble (no gun) I worked my way close to the front. This being my fourth of these "trots" I knew too many people took the trot part seriously. I wanted some open road.

I enjoyed the run. The finish couldn't come fast enough but I kept pushing. I was loose from a thorough massage by Julie the night before and I concentrated on elongating an easy stride and keeping shoulders relaxed.

The usual back-of-the-pack-starting youngsters flew by me all through the second and third miles, they being the former high school CC or track stars back for the holiday break. There were four people at the start I wanted to beat and I took out three of them. A gal in a NYC 07 marathon shirt beat me by a good 20 seconds.

My time was 24:43, second best of my trot runs and 10th best of my 41 5K races so, despite my increasing seniority, I still have some speed working despite being a lazy butt all last week. I drove home thinking about some more running today but the dogs needed a walk.

Happy Thanksgiving RBF and friends.