Race Recap: Turkey Trot 2015

Traditions are very important to me. One of my favorite holiday traditions is doing the Parkersburg Turkey Trot every Thanksgiving morning. This race has become so engrained in our family ritual that it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without it!

I ran my first Turkey Trot, which takes place in my hometown, in 2002. My first year running was filled with snow, black ice, and freezing temperatures. I was still in high school and my good friend who was in college at the time came home to run with me. Despite the bad conditions, we had an absolute BLAST! While I missed a couple Turkey Trots after that year due to some injuries I had from collegiate cross country, I again ran the Turkey Trot in 2005 and have done it every year since!

Turkey Trot 2015: a family tradition!!!

Eventually several of my family members, including my mom, became involved in the Turkey Trot stapling the run/walk event as a holiday tradition for us. Over the past few years our Turkey Trot family group has grown to include my brother-in-law, husband, sister-in-law, aunt and uncle, as well as a few of my cousins. We look forward to braving the typically cold temperatures every morning and getting in some exercise before we dig into our yummy Thanksgiving feast. The Turkey Trot is also a mini reunion for me. I usually see several old friends from high school as well as my former cross country coach. It’s always a great time catching up with everyone. It reminds me that I am not only thankful for running, but also thankful for traditions, my family, and my friends.

While the Turkey Trot is a fun race the competition ranges from elite level competitive to those walking with strollers and dogs. It is currently the largest race held in West Virginia! As someone who has done this event for many years I’ve seen it grow from around 500 trotters to about 4,000 this year. I think the recent popularity of running is a reason for the event’s growth, but I also think it has become a tradition for many just like it has with my family. In the past during my collegiate competitive years I’ve finished second in this race, but now I run on more of the fun side. I still always put in a solid effort, however, and enjoy getting in a good run so I feel less guilty about the epic calorie consumption of Thanksgiving!

Usually for Thanksgiving we travel to Parkersburg on Wednesday evening, but due to me still getting over a bad sinus infection, Daniel being sick, and a mountain of laundry that needed tackled, we actually woke up very early and left Thursday morning. Fortunately I live only about an hour away from my hometown, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch to get up and drive early. It meant for an earlier wake-up call, but my Run Disney experience of getting up super early for races still made this feel like “sleeping in.” In all honesty I think I was more rested for the Turkey Trot this year compared to the years we've gone to Parkersburg the night before. This was likely due to getting to relax more the evening before since we weren't traveling.

Unfortunately as Daniel was in the thick of his head cold he begrudgingly opted not to run so that also meant a solo Turkey Trot for me. Daniel has done the Turkey Trot since 2007 and was sad to miss. I also missed my running partner! We arrived at my parent’s house around 8 a.m. and while Daniel sadly headed to the guest room to nap, my mom, brother-in-law and sister-in-law got our traditional Turkey Trot pre-race picture and headed to the Parkersburg City Park for the race.

Oddly enough unlike past years where I’ve dressed head to toe in layers, the weather was actually very nice for this year’s Turkey Trot! I actually had several outfits laid out the night before that included the traditional long, thick running tights, plus long sleeve shirts to layer, a hat, and gloves. However, with weather in the high 40s and projected 50s by race time, I ended up running in capri leggings with a tank and only a light under armour zip-up top layered over it. It felt really weird not being all bundled up! I couldn’t remember the last Turkey Trot I did where I didn’t have a hat or earband! The only other mild-weather Turkey Trot I remember actually included copious amounts of monsoon like rain, so the mild, sunny temperatures were to quote Cousin Eddie “a real nice surprise!”

As I was still recovering from being sick with sinus issues and still battling quite a cough, my main goal was to simply make it through the race and determine my pace with how I felt. I had only run one other time prior to the Turkey Trot since the Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K (I got sick right after our Disney Vacation), so I was sure that could play a factor in how my legs handled the race as well. Even still, I wanted to make sure to run my best effort for all conditions considered. Since I was still coughing quite a bit, I was very pleased that the aforementioned weather wasn’t the usual freezing Turkey Trot temperatures!

With my good friend Katie at the Turkey Trot!!!

Mom had picked up our race shirts the night before so we got to skip out on that line and were able to proceed along and get ready to trot as soon as we arrived at the Parkersburg City Park, where the race both started and finished. I met up with my good friend Katie from high school and after a quick bathroom break we made our way to the start line, which was already massively crowded with people. As the Turkey Trot is a casual, fun race there are no corrals and this does make it rather hectic. If the race continues to grow I’m not sure what could be done about this unless they did decide to do corrals someday. I personally think since the race has grown so much, corrals in the future would be a great idea for safety purposes alone. Despite our efforts, Katie and I were probably stuck somewhere in the middle of the huge starting area. I knew I’d have to battle my way through the crowds for a bit as I could see people in jeans in front of us (which clearly means walker as I’ve never seen someone run in jeans and if you do you shouldn’t because hello chafing LOL) as well as a few strollers, and small children. Another example of how corrals are probably needed at this race now that it’s grown so much!

Ready or not though the gun soon went off and it was time to trot! As I predicted I had to weave and wind my way throughout the crowd to get around people at the beginning. This is where running solo actually benefited me. As I am a pretty petite person it’s easier for me to dart through small gaps, whereas Daniel is quite tall and to stay together it takes us longer to navigate crowded starts. The beginning of the race stays in the park for a small portion before going out on a street, which you briefly stay on until you turn toward Washington Avenue, where the bulk of the race takes place. By the time I was turning onto Washington Avenue I had finally gotten around the groups who don’t trot as fast as I do and was able to stretch my legs more and establish my pace.

I found myself passing several more people as I ran up the very familiar Washington Avenue. Not only is Washington Avenue a staple of the Turkey Trot, it’s also the street I ran on nearly every single day for my high school cross country and track practices. Despite being very familiar with this road, the hill at the beginning is still just as annoying as ever and my legs definitely felt that grade in elevation almost immediately! Fortunately, at this point my coughing was in check for the most part and I was mainly just happy to be able to run out of the chaos that was the race start. Tired legs and all I forged along and was actually holding a solid pace at this point.

I continued up Washington Avenue and waved to several friends I briefly saw, yet another reason why I love the Turkey Trot! I did find myself get a twinge of emotions as I hadn’t run on Washington Avenue since the news of my good friend and former running teammate Jenny’s passing. We regularly ran together on this street as well as at the park. Rather than let myself get sad, which is something Jenny would never want, I instead smiled because I felt her presence with me. This actually gave me the boost I needed to keep going as I approached the turn around to head back to the park. At this point I started coughing a bit more, but thinking about and running for Jenny was the right motivation I needed. I also saw my high school cross country coach directing trotters at the turn around which was another energy boost!

I made my way down Washington Avenue and back into the park. At this point, the course takes almost a full lap around the park, which is another very familiar running location for me. This is where I started to cough the most, which made me concentrate on taking it easy and not pushing myself. I did not want to get myself any sicker or regress with my symptoms! As I rounded the park and cut through by the pond to round the finish, I also felt my stomach get a little queasy. This is very typical of me for races, but I think the coughing aggravated it a bit more this time. While I did pick it up slightly as I ran toward the finish I did exercise some self-control and didn’t allow myself to full out sprint at the end like usual. I didn’t want to end up puking or make myself feel sick for the rest of the day.

A reason why I Turkey Trot!!!

I picked it up slightly and as hard as it was not to sprint my eyes were definitely happy to see the time on the finish clock! I was surprised at how much faster my time was than I expected considering I didn’t feel like I was running that fast and didn’t even sprint at the end. I also knew to subtract at least 40-60 seconds from that time since I started so far back from the start line. Even with the clock time alone I actually ended up running faster than last year! I’ll call that a successful trot!

Overall the Parkersburg Turkey Trot was another fun race experience. I missed running with Daniel, but I still had a great time! After I finished I met up with some of my cousins and we also cheered my mom, brother-in-law and sister-in-law as they crossed the finish. It was a great time seeing so many old friends and doing this race as a family.

As I said in the future if the race continues to grow, I think corrals are needed or they at least need to make sure that walkers, small children, strollers, and dogs begin at the back behind the runners. This would be safer and make it more organized. However, even with the crazy chaos the Parkersburg Turkey Trot is and probably will always be one of my favorite races!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas from Daniel, Hope, and Winston!!!

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Did you Turkey Trot in your local area? I’d love to hear about your Turkey Trot experience. Best wishes for the holiday season and may all your miles be magical!

Best wishes for a happy holiday season filled with joy!!!