Thanksgiving morning Brad and I started out with our first turkey trot ever! I first learned about the Charlotte Southpark Turkey Trot, when a few of my fellow bloggie friends were tweeting all about it. This particular turkey trot is an 8K run at 9 am on Thanksgiving morning about 15 minutes south of Uptown. I loved that the race began at 9 am and not a super early hour like most races.
Brad and I both started the day with some toast. Rather than do the two slices of PB and banana on Ezekiel toast like I usually do, I used cinnamon raisin Ezekiel to make the toast. And, I had one slice with PB and banana, as usual, and one with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese and TJ’s superfruit spread. The latter was like berry cheesecake toast. YUM! All washed down with a cup of coffee with a splash of almond milk.
Brad took Rascal outside for his morning walk and returned to tell me that it was raining! Yuck! The weathermen said we would have a dry Thanksgiving. 🙁
I grabbed my Garmin, a hat, my rain coat and headed out the door. We picked up Nicole on the way. Nicole was so nice to get our race shirts and bib numbers the day before so we didn’t have to pick them up the morning of the race. I took photos in the car, but with my little point and shoot whose USB cord is MIA at the moment.
By the time we arrived at Southpark mall where the race was to start, it had stopped raining, but I kept my rain jacket on until the last minute. It was chilly.
The whole gang met at Macy’s and we posed for a few shots before we headed to the starting line.
From left to right: me, Jen, Nicole, and Jen!
I finally tossed my jacket in Jen’s car before the start and we headed over to join the very busy crowd.
And boy was it crowded! For some reason, the race organizer decided it would be a good idea for runners with strollers to be at the front of the pack. Some lady who got there late was super rude screaming “EXCUSE ME!” at the top of her lungs to push us out of her way. I was a little shocked at her rudeness.
Then, it started raining again, but only for a few minutes. The race started and within a half mile it had stopped again.
Brad and I decided to run the whole race together since it was our very first race we have ever ran together. It was so much fun! We pushed ourselves to run just under a nine minute mile the whole time. And of course, the course was hilly. What? Hills in Charlotte? They’re impossible to avoid and can be expected for any Charlotte race.
We had such a great time! I loved doing something active together on Thanksgiving instead of lazily stuffing ourselves all day. I also loved seeing moms and dads with kids running the race. What a great family tradition! I would love to make this a tradition in my own family some day.
Did anyone else run a turkey trot yesterday or do some other active family activity?