Kicking Off Turkey Day with the Turkey Trot

What was my time in the 2008 Arlington Turkey Trot 5K? I ran the whole thing.

When you're as lousy a runner as I am, that's the only measuring stick that counts. And with temperatures in the mid-30s at starting time and the race almost entirely up and down gentle hills in Lyon Park and Ashton Heights, the Turkey Trot seemed more like the Gobble Hobble. But I finished.

The most amazing thing? You've never seen a happier group of people who are simultaneously sweaty and freezing. A cheer went up at the start and a big crowd hung out long after the finish. People came out to cheer us all along the parade route, with a puppy escaping its owners at one point and weaving through the runners like Barry Sanders in the open field. There was even a house on Fillmore Street handing out cups of beer to the runners, good for a laugh in the race's last mile.

I was up at 6am to help get runners registered with a group from CRM. Combined with the 4,000 calories worth of food I'll be consuming and 9 hours of football, Vegas has set the line of when I pass out on my couch at 8pm. Bet the under.