“Finishing that 5K was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I ate more fettuccini alfredo and drank less water than I have in my entire life. People always talk about triumphs of the human spirit. Well, today, I had a triumph of the human body. That’s why everybody was applauding for me at the end, my guts and my heart. And while I eventually puked my guts out, I never puked my heart out. I’m very, very proud of that.”
– Michael Scott
High on endorphins, in the car ride home from last year’s inaugural family Thanksgiving race, the Habers agreed enthusiastically to make the Oyster Bay Turkey Trot 5K a yearly tradition.
Last year’s race was my dad and sister’s first EVER race, so you can imagine how incredible they felt after that one.
This year’s was – pardon my french – a bit of a shit show. Instead of a pre-race packet pick up, everyone (all 1200 runners) had to pick up their packet the morning of the race and it was a mess. The race ended up starting about 15 minutes late since a chunk of people were still in line for their bibs at the 9am start time.
But in the end, let’s be real. I didn’t have anywhere else to be. .
Once the race got started, I had a great time. Quelle surprise! My mom, dad, sister and I each ran our own race. We’re not ALWAYS that kind of family, but sometimes we are. I had to off-road it for the first half mile because it was too crowded to move on the actual course.
I was over dressed and immediately took off my ear-warmer and mittens.
The 3.1 mile route is lovely. It runs partially through a small town and partially along the water.
I finished first in my family and then ran back to cheer on my mom, sister and dad. My mom crushed it and came in second in her age group. Turns out she was FIRST in her age group last year, but we just never knew. Dear Vince, please mail my mom the award and we will love you forever!!
There is a lot of silliness and costumes at this race. Not all of it is Thanksgiving themed, unless there is an element of gorillas I’ve not been educated on.
We came home, showered (some of us more quickly then others, AHEM) and with most of the prep handled the night before, we hung out and watched every Thanksgiving episode of Friends. IDEAL.
How was your Thanksgiving?
OMG! I was at that race too yesterday! Totally agree with you on the shit-show that was the bib pick up. It didn’t help that the person crossing off the names then had a 2-3 minute conversation with each person about shirt sizes because they ran out of mediums and then smalls.
I’m sad that I missed out on seeing the gorillas.
Author
HA! What a small world! Did you enjoy the race once it got started?
You mean, once I got past the flank of screaming six-year-olds? I almost ran over a little kid who went out too fast and then all of a sudden decided to stop in the first 200 feet of the race.
It was a nice enough race, but I don’t think we’ll be back. A race that we wanted to do closer to our house sold out in Oct, so next year we’ll make sure to get our Thanksgiving plans settled early.
That sounds like such a fun family event! We didn’t have any fun costumes at ours!
Author
It’s a blast!