TURKEY TROT -- A THANKSGIVING TRADITION

The Hole 'N Run Turkey Trot 5K in Wheeling, WV has become a tradition for many people in the Ohio Valley. I have run the race for about eight years straight now, and the numbers increase every year. I'm not sure of the final tally, but someone said there were over 600 pre-registered runners.

What surprised me was the number of people that showed up on such a cold morning. Driving over to Wheeling, I noticed the outside temperature indicator on my dashboard fluctuated from 12 degrees to 18 degrees. I saw a dog frozen to a fire hydrant.  It was so cold Richard Simmons showed up wearing tights.

 I consider myself a tough guy, but I broke down and wore tights this morning too. I coach cross country at a high school whose colors are purple and white. Naturally, I have purple tights. I don't wear these purple tights often, but when I do, people tend to question my sexual orientation. Years ago Wheeling hosted a winter race called the Jingle Bell Run. When I came home in purple tights and jingle bells on my shoes, my wife began asking questions.

The Turkey Trot course travels through the Wheeling Jesuit College campus and out onto Washington Avenue for a couple of loops and then finishes on the track. I ran a 19:07 today, one of my best times of the year. Most people with GPS watches say the course is short. I don't believe in GPS watches. I have an odometer in my head. My kids got me a GPS watch for Christmas last year. I quit using it when it measured my regular five-mile training course at 4.87. I like my head odometer better. It tells me today's course was 3.1.

The awards ceremony was great with lots of give-a-ways-- t-shirts, gift certificates, and ten frozen turkeys. In the last eight years I've won two turkeys. Not today, though, not even a month's membership to a local fitness center (which I would probably never use anyway). However, I did get to pick up three awards, mine and two gal runners I know who had to leave early. Everyone gets a kick out of seeing an old guy come forward to pick up a woman's medal. When you do it twice, they really laugh. Then again, maybe it was my purple tights.

That's me on the left and Neff's most famous citizen, Allen Olexa.