My friend John showed up at my house early Thanksgiving morning so we could ride together to the Elmhurst Turkey Trot. It was to be the first time he had ever run a race of any distance, and he was a bit nervous. Starting with what to wear. He walked in the house and asked whether he was dressed warmly enough.
I asked him what was under the jacket and sweat pants he had on, and he showed me the several other layers he was wearing, as if he was prepared for the arctic. I told him it was going to be in the low 40's and the sun was out. I was planning on wearing shorts and a long-sleeved shirt for the race. John promptly shed a layer or two, while I got him some lightweight gloves and a thin stocking cap.
And we were off to the race. John is in the gray top,and I'm in the red. We should mention that not only was this the first race John has ever entered, but it was also the longest distance he had ever run. Times two. That's right, when he first started talking about running a couple months ago, I mentioned the Turkey Trot might be a good goal to work up to. I even told him about a training program some of my friends were starting, called 'couch to 5k'. He opted not to join the program, and instead follow my (limited) training advice.
I told him to gradually increase his distance, and make sure he was running well within a comfortable pace. Walking breaks were also a good idea, I told him. Well, as best I can tell, he might have followed that advice for a couple days, and then he went on vacation and the running plan was history.
But when we were out a week or so ago, he admitted he had no plans for Thanksgiving morning, and agreed to sign up for the Turkey Trot despite the lack of training. His longest run to that point? 1.5 miles.
So as we got to the starting line o f the race, I repeated my advice, "start slow, and take it comfortable and easy". Then the gun went off, and I decided to leave him to his own devices while I tried to get a good workout in. The Elmhurst Turkey Trot was celebrating it's 25th anniversary with nearly 7,000 runners. It is the largest race of it's kind in the Chicago area, and it was crowded. I wanted to run about 7:00 pace, maybe a little faster, but I started too far back. There was too much traffic in the early going, and I was only able to get out to an 8:15 or so first mile.
I kicked it in and managed to run the next two miles at about 6:15 or so pace to get back to the 7:00 average pace I was looking for, but it was not the ideal way to run a 5k. Nevertheless, there was a point where the outgoing runners passed the incoming runners on the course. I was coming up on the two mile mark when I saw John coming the other way. He looked good, was running easily, and still smiling. All good signs I thought.
So I finished, got some water, and started to look for him. Amazingly, at about 30 minutes he crossed the line, and seemed like he was barely breathing hard. Then he told me he partook in the Turkey Trot tradition of stopping for a Bloody Mary shot at the second mile! I missed that part!
John said it felt easier than he expected, though he also expected to be a little sore the next day. I told him I was impressed, and if he trained, he probably has a lot of potential as a runner. But most importantly, he enjoyed his first race.
Then I saw my friends who coached the 'couch to 5k' program, and they said very few of the people in their program showed up at the race, which was to be the 'graduation' of the program in the first place.
I'm not sure what the lesson in that might be, but it was interesting anyway. A shame for them because they missed a great morning. In any case, John and I en joyed plenty of food and drink the rest of the day, knowing we had burned a few calories that morning.
See you on the roads....
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