Thanksgiving Part 1: Travel and Turkey Trot 5K

Hello my Lovelies and Gents,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did. It was my first Thanksgiving not at the beach in a long time though. I missed my sunrise moments. 

My travels began on Wednesday. I met with a client first thing in the morning and then got on the road. It was snowing up north so I wanted to get out as early as possible. I packed a sandwich and carrots. Plus I had gotten a little carton of holiday goldfish and a small rice krispie treat. That was all that I was going to take. And then I took a sip of my White Chocolate Peppermint Tea. I messed up. It was too diluted. So I needed a caffeine stop. 

I planned on Starbucks, but I wanted to get some mileage in. And then I saw a sign for a Dunkin Donuts. They just started moving in down here when I was living here the first time so they aren’t everywhere just yet. I got a little excited and pulled off of the exit. I pulled in and realized that it was an Express at a gas station. I must have looked like a lunatic. I was in my car beating my steering wheel and screaming “NOOOOOOOOOOO”. For now I had to pee too and I was trying to minimize my stops. I knew the next exit had a Starbucks so I pulled out and headed there.  I ordered my grande skinny peppermint Mocha. I don’t know what happened, but it was awful. I barely drank it. 

I hit the snow with 77 miles to go. Coincidentally I was listening to Frozen and “Let it Go” at the time. I’m such a nerd, I got a little excited. My ride was full of good music. I busted out my Christmas music…and reindeer ears. I am seriously so cute. Tony Stewart really should call me. 

When I got to mom’s we were invited to join some others out for dinner. I ordered my grilled chicken and Harvarti sandwich that I love so much (I didn’t eat all of the bread). I asked what the vegetable of the day was. It was butternut squash with pecans and cinnamon. Mmm…Yes please! It was delightful. But, when it was time to finally leave I couldn’t move. My muscles had completely stiffened up. Argh.

I had to go to bed early. Cousin Randy was picking me up at 7am for the Turkey Trot. It was cold. But, this was good. I needed a test run for next week. I wore what I am planning on wearing and I had my Hot Chocolate 5K jacket. 

So first let me say that we didn’t register. I don’t advocate this, but we are both very poor right now and we just wanted a fun run. So we were already feeling guilty for this. Then, when they parked us they directed us to a handicap parking spot. Starting to feel paranoid. 

When we got out of the car my worst fear came true. I pulled out my ipod and the battery was dead. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! If we had driven my car I would have had my backup ipod. We did not. Normally I have some music on my phone as an emergency, but it had reset a few weeks ago and deleted everything. I hadn’t gotten around to putting music back on. Cousin Randy suggested I quickly download Pandora. I started, but there was an error. You need wifi. Grrr. I was slowly losing my mind. How could I run without music????? I mean I was practically breaking out in a sweat.  I thought I was since I was wet in strange places, until I realized that it was just my water bottle leaking.

Okay, so we’re standing in the middle of 2,600 of people waiting for the start and I am totally digging what everyone is wearing. I love Turkey Trots because people dress up. We saw turkeys, pilgrims, pies, you name it. So many people out there for a good cause it was heartwarming. We felt horrible when they were announcing how appreciative they are for all of the funds that help with cancer. I need to go make a donation somewhere.

So once it started I was a mess. I had my phone in one hand trying to download quickly. I had a flimsy water bottle in the other hand that was leaking water all of me. Grr…and I was in the middle of the pack. We started running. It was my normal pace…for mile 5. I can’t start that fast though. So I had outpaced myself by the end of mile 1. I pulled off to the side to put my phone away and walked about half a mile. I caught up with myself and started running again….up a hill….DOH.  I felt so guilty for not registering that I didn’t stop at the water stop. I had my own…even if it was leaking all over me. Luckily there was a steep downhill after. HOORAY!  And then we made a right turn…UP HILL. DOH! I walked up the hill and then ran the rest. 

Even with my water and the snow on the ground, I overheated in my jacket. That slowed me down just a bit too. 

I wasn’t thrilled with my time, but I was happy with my running. I haven’t been training for hills and I haven’t run with a large group of people in a while. So it was good. Plus, considering I didn’t have music I did very well. 

To celebrate we went to Dunkin Donuts. I would get my Do-Over peppermint Mocha….again it was not a good one. What is going on??? In full disclosure, we split some pumpkin donuts. One I liked and one I didn’t. 

Stay tuned tomorrow when I tell you all about our Thanksgiving Dinner…mmmm….

Have a Blessed Evening.

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