Talkin' Turkey

Today was the YMCA Turkey Trot at the Ridges Golf Course in Rapids. Woke up to 30 degrees and dreary skies that were dropping a few flakes but that was short lived, thankfully.

 My next-door neighbor Niki and I convinced our kids to sign up for this race with us.

Carter, of course, was all for it because he was just wrapping up his cross country season when we registered -- and he felt pretty secure in his ability to kick Mom's butt. I did not question this confidence, believe me.

He convinced his friend and CC teammate Tyler to run with him. The way those two were stretching out and prepping for the race, I thought for sure they'd be leading the pack. They were quite aware that they'd be up against two Nekoosa CC runners, who also were taking their pre-race routine quite seriously. In the end, Carter and Tyler ran out of steam and finished well behind those guys, taking 7th and 8th in their age group. They said they were out of shape and out of practice after not running the past two weeks since the season ended.

Tell me about it!

It was a tough course for this old lady! Basically, it follows the state cross country course from last weekend. So, there are lot of up and down hills to conquer. I have a new respect for cross country runners. It is not a simple 5K. Not at all.

Since Carter left his running shoes at school and one of our stopwatches, I ran without a watch today and no music. I felt like I was running fast but all those hills just slow a person down. So my time was not as good as I hoped. But Carter only beat me by like 3 minutes I think, instead of the 10 minutes I expected.

The Desperate Housewives celebrate our finish. Here I am smiling because it's over. Later, I was grimacing because I found out I finished 4th in my age group a mere 20 stinkin' seconds behind 3rd. Top 3 in each category get a prize. So I was THAT close to getting some sort of turkey award. Dang.

It does give me incentive to really train for next year. If no new people sign up, then maybe I can trot into that winner's circle. And trust me, I'm not the only one in this house who's gonna try!

Gobble, gobble!