The Holidays Are Here...Run!

May the gods have mercy.  The holidays are officially, undeniably upon us.

Everyone seemingly looks forward to the holiday season, but I will confess to having developed an aversion to it all.  The rampant commercialization, the waning light of shortened days (rife with seasonal affective disorder), and the self-enhanced stress of meeting abstract holiday obligations related to family and friends.  While I can't deny that I enjoy the excitement and wonder that is still present in my children for the holidays, I personally would like nothing better than for them to pass quietly by while I give them nothing more than a nod of my head and a tip of my glass as acknowledgement.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day.  I knew that I was in for a stressful day and not particularly looking forward to dinner at the mother-in-law's house.  Not that the food wasn't going to be good (I was certain that it was) or that my children weren't excited (they were).  However, there would be volatile personalities present and a high potential for family drama that doesn't necessarily require a holiday gathering to be invoked but is much more certain with one.  Normally I would inoculate myself against the angst with a stiff drink or two before venturing out, but unfortunately I was on-call and therefore that removed that particular remedy from my list of options.

So on Wednesday night I decided to make the best of my Thanksgiving morning and run the Iroquois Hill Runners Thanksgiving Day Run.  The run is held each year on Thanksgiving morning and is a 5 mile run through the hills of Iroquois park, which is actually a pretty tough run with a hard climb the entire length of the first two miles or so.

IHR Thanksgiving Day Run Elevation Profile

At the urging of my co-worker, friend, and mentor Steve, I had ran this race last year under his entry as he wasn't able to participate.  Steve is the person who is singularly responsible for introducing the One Man to running for fun.  Running was something that I once loathed because of the inevitability of shin splints and severe discomfort that came from running.  Other than doing the absolute minimum that I had to do for PT tests (and struggling through the running portions of those), I wanted nothing to do with running.  Through intelligent suggestions and enthusiastic encouragement Steve guided me to pain free running and was the first person to encourage me to run in an organized road race, which he also ran with me.  That was almost almost three years ago.  Steve was running the Thanksgiving Day run this year and I could think of no better way to start my day than running it with the Jedi Master and being surrounded by the positive energy of the running community.

I was up and out the door just after 7:00 A.M. and on my way to late registration.  I stopped by Starbucks for my triple venti mocha and then made my way down highways and streets that were surprisingly empty for a holiday morning.  I did see a few runners who appeared to be making their way toward Iroquois Park.

The hills of Iroquois loom in the distance as I drive down Southern Parkway.

I arrived just before 8:00 A.M. and there were already tons of people present and parking was filling up.  I had printed out my registration form at home and brought it with me.

 

Late registration and packet pickup near the starting line.

A pleasant surprise at late registration was that I was still given a nice long-sleeve t-shirt with the IHR Thanksgiving day logo.  The temps were in the high 30s and climbing so I decided to return to the car and exchange the t-shirt and running jacket that I had been wearing for the IHR long-sleeve.

Run, Turkey!

I met up with Steve and his family near registration and enjoyed talking with them prior to the start.  With twenty-five minutes or so to go until the race was to begin I decided to head to the bathroom to relieve myself of some of the coffee that I had.  The line was not that long but apparently many of the people in line had not yet enjoyed their morning constitutional.  By the time the I was five people away from the door it was nine minutes until the start and it was painfully obvious I wasn't going to make a bathroom trip before the race began.  So shrugging off the trip to the bathroom I headed back to line up for the singing of My Old Kentucky Home and The Star Spangled Banner.

The One Man with the Jedi Master.

Without much delay the race was on.  Hundreds of runners started up the climb up the hills.  I took it very easy as I made the ascent.  I haven't been doing a lot of hill work lately (read "none") and wasn't sure what kind of toll the hills would take on me.  The funny thing about running hills for me however is that I tend to unconsciously push myself.  This day was no exception and I found myself slowly and steadily passing other runners as we climbed.

Beginning the ascent.

Near the top of the park I was struck by the early morning view with the sun still low in the early Thanksgiving Day sky.  I paused to take a couple of pictures as did several of the other runners.

View from the top.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful.  My photography stop allowed Steve to gain a good thirty seconds on me, but I was able to keep him in sight during the rest of the race even if I couldn't catch up to him again.

I was able to open up on the descent and felt like I was flying coming back down out of the hills.  The final stretch I really pushed myself because I knew I had a good chance of breaking 50 minutes if I did.  I crossed the finish line with an unofficial time of 49:51.  Not bad for someone who doesn't do hill work.

The post-race snack was a pumpkin muffin with frosting and chocolate milk.  You can't beat that.  Way to go Iroquois Hill Runners.

Best post-race snack EVER.

I felt good about the 49:51 time all that day and even smiled to myself today thinking about it; even if my quads are a little more sore than usual.

And for the record, the Thanksgiving Day meal was delicious.  The evening did end on a sour note, not unexpectedly, when the aforementioned personalities clashed.  But making the best of what was left of the evening, I took the family to the movies.  You'd be surprised how many people were actually at the theater on Thanksgiving night.  Maybe I'm not quite so alone in my aversions.