ShoreTurtle – Running in and around New Jersey

Smoke the Turkey 5K – Toledo, Ohio

November 26th, 2009 Posted in Running Races

This morning my mom, two sisters, brother-in-law, nephew & my wife woke up early and participated in the Smoke the Turkey 5K. There was a good size crowd (1300 participants). As we arrived, the announcer was naming all of the states where people were from. She rattled off 10 states or so–she skipped New Jersey. We checked the door prize list before the race. We didn’t win anything, but it was nice to get the door prizes out of the way early instead of waiting around after the race. The temperature was around 40 with the real feel temperature in the 30s. It felt much colder. After listening to the litany of rules several times, it was time for the race start.

When the race started, my family split up. My mom and sister ran/walked. The rest of us walked with my nephew in the stroller. It was fun walking beside him and making him laugh. I’m definitely biased, but he is adorable. At the first mile mark, I ran ahead to try to catch up to my mom and sister. We ran/walked the rest of the way together, which was fun. With a 1/2 mile to the finish, my sister took off and ran ahead. She was happy to beat me. I finished the race with my mom. My wife finished just behind us. She walked with the stroller for the first 1/2 of the race and ran the second 1/2 by herself. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew were at the finish too. They cut the walk short since my nephew was tired and ready to go home. We all agreed–so we got some post race food and headed home. This was the first official race that we have all done together. It was cold but it was fun.