Turkey Trot

Gobble Gobble....sorry for the late update on the Turkey Trot. It was a lot of fun! The morning started at 4:45 am for me. When I took the dogs out there was no precipitation, so I was excited. I thought we would be in luck for just some chilly weather! I have not yet gotten the proper outdoor running gear for winter, so I was trying to throw things. I looked like the Punky Brewster of runners :) I was excited that the bargain buy grey running tights I bought for 7.99 fit great! But they looked silly under my turqouise running shorts. Oh well! But at least I had some gloves and head band to keep my ears warm.

Well on the way to the Oregon Zoo it started to sprinkle. The three of us got our bibs, and Clair got her t-shirt. Eric and I were running the 4 mile run that started at 8 am, and then Clair had her Toddler Trot at 9:30. My parents were going to watch her while we were running. Eric and I lined up at the start line ready to go. There were quite a few people. Finally we were able to start. The course was an out and back to the Japanese Garden from the Oregon Zoo, and then into the Oregon Zoo. Well, this meant going running less than two miles down hill turn around and run two miles up hill and then about half a mile down hill again. And the hills were quite steep!

Eric stayed with me for the first mile and a half. It was pretty rainy, and we were both pretty soaked. He took off going faster than I could go. On the way back up, it was pretty steep. A lot of the people were walking, but if I start walking I never start jogging again. So I continued jogging....very slowly. The rain was falling a little harder by now and my gloves were soaked. I was feeling pretty lousy, my legs hurt from the cold and then I saw a bright green shirt. It was a Childrens Tumor Foundation t-shirt, talk about a kick to the ego. A little adrenaline kicked in and I was able to get going. About mile three and a half my back started to have a huge spasm. It was at that moment I wished Eric was still running with me to help push me a little bit. The hill was going to be the end of me running! Well then I remembered watching a show about Matt from the Biggest Loser the night before. Matt had participated in an Ironman Marathon. He swam two and half hours, biked 100+ miles, THEN ran 26.2 miles! He missed being an "official finisher" by 3 minutes! He said, "sometimes you have to push your body to do things you don't think it can do." Well I know this is not exactly what he meant, but it got me through! I got up the hill.

In the parking lot I saw my daddy! He got my picture, so I made sure I flashed a good smile. As I came into the Zoo, it seemed like a long way down to the ampitheatre. It just kept going and going. Soon I saw my mom, Eric and Clair. Then Eric and Clair came out of the crowd and joined me to the finish. We crossed the line at 50 mins and 59 seconds. It probably took us a minute to cross the start line though.

Clair got to run an 800 meter dash out and back. It was so cute! She got a ribbon and was so fun to watch her. When she finished she said, "mommy I won!" She did, she won my heart!

The next run on the horizon is the First Run in Downtown Portland on New Years Eve. Neither Eric and I are into the big party scene, so we thought it might be fun to do a run. We will be out of town to do the Jingle Bell Run this weekend