West Linn Turkey Trot 2013

A Thanksgiving-morning run has become one of my favorite holiday traditions! OK - I just typed that and then looked at last year's post. I opened with the exact same sentence. I guess I really mean it ;)

We loved last year's West Linn Turkey Trot and decided to do it again.

This time, turkey visors for everyone!

The course is sort of a double loop through the trails of Mary S. Young Park, including some stairs and some steep drainages. It was very, very crowded at the narrow start but then opened up a bit. As those things go, we started really slow and then found ourselves sprinting once the crowd thinned. We had to slow it down, especially when the stairs and steeps hit.

I'm happy with my 10:13 average over 3.42 miles:

It was a beautiful course and a perfect crisp morning!

Here comes Dad:

Eryn! It was her first time running since May - she's been nursing a nasty stress fracture in her foot.

Mom!

So "they" say that if you want to win a race, sign up for a small-town event and go out there and shine amongst the common people. That worked great for me during this summer's Newberg Old-Fashioned Festival when I took second place in my age group!!

BUT...

Someone invited Portland's Nike Olympic training team to this little small-town race! I'm talking Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan. Two of the fastest women in the country. Maybe even in the world. (both ladies in pink:)

No surprise: They took first and second place for women: (Kara in pink, Shalane in blue)

There were a couple men there, too, though I didn't catch their names. They are Olympic hopefuls, training in Portland for the 2016 games. One of them is a former world-record holder for the 10K. Obviously, they won the men's race:

It was really cool to be in the presence of running greatness.

While my speed didn't win me any awards, I did win a pumpkin pie in the drawing!!! I was so excited that someone asked my mom if I was drunk! HA

We didn't bake a pumpkin pie this year, gambling that one of the five of us would win one for the family dinner. Thanksgiving wasn't ruined ;)

Then there was this guy:

I'm not sure what he was doing, posing/flexing with his tennis shoes, wool hiking socks and short shorts, but I was laughing really, really hard!

We were not disappointed with this year's West Linn Turkey Trot. If you're looking for a casual, inexpensive family run, join us! The race was great, and the after party/raffle was super fun.

:)