The Thanksgiving Day Fredericksburg Turkey Trot returned today after the 2020 edition was changed to a virtual run due to COVID. This year was the 29th edition of the race, which started in 1993 and is operated by the Rappahannock Area YMCA.
The original Turkey Trot was held in Buffalo, New York, on November 26, 1896, and has been held each year since. That 8 km race was founded and is operated by the local Buffalo YMCA,
I ran the Fredericksburg race every year from 1993 to 2007, except for 2005. From 2008 to 2019, Race Timing Unlimited timed the event, and I could not run. Last year, I did show up at the start line on Thanksgiving morning and ran the course with a few friends.
Over the years, the race has used four courses. From 1993 to 2009, the downtown library was the venue and used the traditional River Run course. The SPCA Rescue Run in June now uses that course.
A course that used James Monroe High School and stayed below the college was used for the next two years. Then, the expo center in Central Park was the site of the 2012 and 2013 races.
In 2014, the race venue returned to James Monroe High School and used the current course.
While in Central Park, the race had about 4000 participants, and today, there were about 2500 runners.
Since I stopped working this race, I hoped I would not have to get up before sunrise to participate. Working with the city, the race organizers agreed to have a 7:35 am race start. I was up at 5 am, wanting to get parked by 6:30 am.
I started my warmup at 6:45 am and did four repeats of walk 2 minutes and run 6 minutes. These were my first running steps since completing JFK last Saturday. My legs felt pretty good, though the groin muscle that caused issues this past summer was barking at me.
After changing into my singlet, I jogged to the indoor men’s room and a little more before lining up in the first wave for runners expecting to finish under 30 minutes. I would be happy to finish under 30 and ecstatic for anything faster.
At the race start, it was 31 degrees with a 26-degree dew point, no wind, and partly cloudy skies. I wore shorts over compression shorts, a singlet over a long-sleeved shirt, a knit hat, neck gaiter, gloves, and my Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 shoes. Where I lined up, I was the only person with shorts. It wasn’t that cold. I couldn’t see the Kenyans at the front. I assume they were in shorts.
I didn’t see the gun go up. So, I was a little surprised when I heard the bang. I probably hit my watch a second late.
The first wave had about 500 runners. Organizers had a 14-foot wide start line to thin the field.
It took about 20 seconds to walk across the mats.
It was more crowded than I expected. I went out at a conservative pace. There were kids not running straight lines and unpaced bunches. A ridiculous woman and her dog passed me in the first mile, as did one stroller pusher.
I went through mile 1 in 9:45, and the exact first mile split from my 10 km 11 days ago.
Turning off Sunken Road onto Monroe Street, I started down a gentle hill. My quads didn’t like the extra pounding.
Partway down the hill, the wheelchair that started 4 minutes after the first wave came whizzing by on my left. He must have been doing 25 to 30 mph. The accompanying cyclist was behind him, giving no notice to other participants.
At the bottom of the hill, there is a 90 degree right turn onto Kenmore Avenue. When I got to that turn, the wheelchair participant had crashed and was being assisted. The hill was a 1 to 2 percent grade. He should have been able to brake.
I’m still feeling OK. I looked around to see if any runners had headphones and were surprised to see none. Most near me were running with a friend and didn’t want to have their hearing blocked.
The course turns left onto William Street, heading into town. This road is a nice little section going through part of the business district. My second mile was a 9:34.
Turning onto Charles Street, my legs were starting to revolt. I knew not to try and run faster. I ran another challenging downhill before the turn onto Canal Street.
I ran the best I could in my third mile, a 9:41. Then, I headed down the home stretch toward the finish. When I first saw the display clock, it showed 29:40. By the time it got to 29:50, I had decided I’d better run a little harder and finished in 29:54. I’m happy.
569th place overall out of 1906 finishers, 356th of 861 men and 9th of 27 men 65 to 69. I beat the third place man 65 to 69 in a 5km three weeks ago which was before my JFK 50 mile race. Too bad, more good runners are aging up in the next couple of months.