Turkey Trot Weekend

What a whirlwind of a weekend.  For the past three years, I've had the pleasure of running in the Thompson Turkey Trot.  It's a pretty fantastic foot race put on by Thompson Rec and Thompson Trails with proceeds going to TEEG Food Bank and the Thompson Trails Committee.  The race has been primarily orchestrated by Mike Lajeunesse, whose commitment to our community has been beyond compare.  Unfortunately, this year Mike was simply unable to put together the race due to some personal issues.

I learned of this about a month ago when I reached out to the Thompson Rec Director, Renee Waldron.  The good news is that it looks like the race is back on for 2012 (11/11/12 - mark your calendars).

So with one of my favorite running events of the year canceled, it seemed like there was only one thing to do.  Go rogue!  I had already heard from several people that they were dismayed that the race wasn't being run this year and there was some definite interest right away.

So now I was putting together a small race.  Hmm.  How does one do that?  Well, my job was made easier by the fact that there were no shirts, no sponsors, no money, no water stops.  And I decided to follow the course laid out by Scott Deslongchamps for 2009 (rather than last year's course, which would necessitate a person manning a turnaround).  Hey, this race management stuff is pretty easy.

My biggest concern was getting the course marked.  And cleared.  Uncle Sam helped me with the latter.   Twelve straight days of jury duty stipends were spent on a super-cool toy.  My new Husqvarna 150BT backpack blower.

Here's me hitting the yard Saturday.

 So with leaf blower, chain saw and loppers in tow, I headed down to the 5K loop Saturday afternoon.  Blowing the trails was almost too easy.  Most places it was just walking down the path holding the blower in front of me.  A few places I had to sweep it back and forth, but WAY easier than raking. I cut back a few fallen trees and borrowed stones from a nearby stone wall to use as stepping stones through a marshy area on the trail.  I decided to save the trail marking for the next day to ensure no arrow stealing riff-raff ruined the race. 

I got up this morning and walked the course a for the second time in two days, placing fluorescent green arrows in all the strategic spots.  The course still looked great from the previous afternoon's work.  And the early morning weather was stellar.  Fifty, calm and sunny.  That would change a little as the day progressed.  By race time it would still be warm, but the wind would be heavier and the sun would be more out than in.  Still a great day for racing in the woods.

I finished up marking at 9:00 am, an hour before race time.  I met Scott Deslongchamps on the trail as I was wrapping up.  He was stretching his legs before the race.  Home quickly to change into some running gear and grab Cori (also running) and Harry (hanging out).  Made it back and by the 10 am start, we had 11 runners present.

Turkey Trot 2011 Crew

Michelle Aubin had offered to come down and time for us.  She brought her daughter, Jewelia, with her.  At just about 10 on the nose we were off and running.  I made it across the field and into the woods first.  I was pretty worried about Scott Deslongchamps.  For those who don't know him, he's super fast.  I was relieved to hear he'd raced a 4.3 mile race the day before in Providence and come in 4th over all.  I expected he had spent himself.  After having a good start, my big plan was to put enough of a gap on him to have him out of sight (and not reeling me in).  It worked.  I had a strong race and somehow managed first.

Here are the overall results:

Rob Paton, 22:57, 7:15/mi
Scott Deslongchamps, 23:32, 7:36/mi
Roger Durant, 27:43, 8:57/mi
Chris, 28:35, 9:13/mi
Steve Gracia, 31:15, 10:05/mi
Madison, 31:32, 10:10/mi
Curtis, 32:39, 10:32/mi
Samantha Delp, 33:23, 10:46/mi
Hannah, 35:51, 11:34/mi
Denny, 35:54, 11:35/mi
Cori Paton, 37:04, 11:57/mi

All the trotters did a great job.  It's a tough course, replete with roots, rocks, steep climbs and stream crossings and intermingled with some disused paved road.  Everyone seemed pretty happy with the course and no one got lost, so I was really glad I had gone out and put the time in getting it ready.

After the race we hung around and shot the breeze for a bit.  Once everyone realized there really were no prizes, the shindig broke up.

I went home, changed back into work clothes and headed back down to the dam to perambulate the course and pull down the arrows.  My fourth time doing the full 5K course in less than 24 hours.   

And just to tie some biking into this Pedal Pushing Patons blog, I returned one more time and rode the Dam.  9.753 miles at 9.7 mph average.  And the day before the race, Cori rode 19.5 miles with a group of friends.

She came upon this scary guy on the closed bridge at Five Mile River Road in Putnam.

So naturally, she had to sit with him and take a picture.

And now sitting back, watching some football and enjoying some homemade brews courtesy of John "the Herminator" Herrmann.

Thanks for coming out everyone!  Looking forward to next year's officially sanctioned Turkey Trot.

~Rob