Turkey Trotting in Tucson

Turkey Trotting in Tucson

So......

There was no freaking way I could let a race less than a mile a way, on a Major Holiday, in my new winter home town get by without me being there.

Hurt foot and all.

So, earlier in the week, I schlepped across town in FULL snowbird traffic at 1:30 in the afternoon (sidebar....the one seeming downside about being in Tucson for the winter, is Everyone, including their Uncles, Grandmothers, sisters, brothers, cats, dogs, Winnebago's and SUV's are ALSO in Tucson, driving around at all hours of the day. Constant trafffic gridlock, and many out of state license plates, the majority of which seem to be......from Illinois! - Kind of like Wisconsin in the summer!)

.....Back to the story

I went to the local Running Shop - creatively named "The Running Shop" where I got to sign up for membership in "SAR" which sounds vaguely military or disease-like - it stands for Southern Arizona Roadrunners, the Tucson version of Badgerland Striders. I also got to both sign up for and pick up T-shirt and bib for the Thanksgiving Cross Country Challenge race. $43 later, (including my $2 SAR member discount) I'm now a registered member of the running community, a cool red SAR shirt is on the way to me, and I'm signed up for my first official Hometown Tucson race.

My foot has been achy on and off, nothing terrible, but I'm aware of it.

So, I get out of bed - late on Thanksgiving. Dawdle around and head out of the house about 8:40 am. The festivities include a Family Fun Run/Walk, and a Women's 5k, and then the Men go last. The events are sequential, so the men are slated to start last at 9:15 am.

I get there five minutes later, even taking my time. The event is in Reid Park, a huge park north of me, complete with Zoo, ballfields, soccer fields, picnic areas....I see the crowd is also HUGE, probably about 3,000 people out on Thanksgiving morning. I also get there right in time to see the start of the Women's race, a huge crowd of mostly stunning women of all ages blasting across this open field. By the way, the weather? Bright Sunshine, dry, blue blue sky and about 80 degrees. It was like a summertime Wisconsin race without the humidity.

I decide to climb a nearby hill, close to, it seems, one of the loops and obstacles (more on that later) so I have a supreme vantage point to see the lead women (or girls) blasting up the hill. Now, I think my ignorance might be a result of my previous life in the northern climes, or something, but as it turns out it is fashionable (and, according to Cayelin this has been going on for awhile in Tucson, anyway) for the young track-star girls to wear their panties OVER their running shorts. All of the leaders (and these dozen-plus girls were really cruising) were thusly clad.

This was certainly new to me, and I felt pretty old. Maybe it's a Southwest thing, where it's warm enough to show your underwear, unlike the Midwest.

So, it took a LONG time for the womens race to be over, many of the laggards were waddling in well past 9:15 am when the men's race was supposed to start. By rough estimate, there were upwards of 500-plus women running the 5K. And, also two guys wearing wigs and jog bra's. Pretty amusing....

And, I have to hand it to the crowd. They kept "us men" waiting for about 20 minutes past the advertised start time but even then as they announced that the last women runner was coming in (the finish route cut right across the start route) the whole crowd of men took up a huge clapping cheer for her, and she actually broke into a trot to get out of our way, smiling like crazy.

She was, of course, wearing an Ipod like many of the runners out there that day.

There were more men than women, and I somehow got myself stuck up front with all of the young turk track stars.

Now, this was a "European Cross Country Race" which means, that we all lined up in a huge horizontal line. It was a two-loop course, all "off road" with hills, obstacles, water hurdles and pretty rough terrain, Also constant looping, hair pin turns, zig zagging and other ways to make you run a long distance in a small amount of space.

"Runner's Set! (BANG!) goes the gun and we're off.

The crowd seemed to flow away from me like the tide and I'm swept along the grass covered field and onto these dusty trails. Now...it's dry in Tucson and as a result, the crowd kicks up a ton of dust and it's hanging in the air like a cloud. Instantly we're inhaling it, it coats the back of my throat and my eyes are watering. No matter, gotta keep going. Maybe there is a water stop out there?

No, no water. It's the desert after all.

I pass the two mile marker at 3 minutes, 22 seconds. "Damn, we're hauling ASS" shouts some wag. "Home stretch!" shouts another, "Go! Go! Go!." Shouts a third.

It's a two loop course, so obviously that mile marker is for loop number two. Either that, or I and the crowd around me have set some serious land speed records. Doubtful though, with my foot.

Course ran across the park, looping in and out of parking areas, around Palm Trees and Pine Trees, into dry washes, up hills, over several "hay bale" obstacles, and then, up and over two pretty substantial hills, where at the bottom of the second was the "quadruple" - TWO hay bale obstacles and TWO water obstacles in quick succession. Foot placement was crucial, so you A) didn't trip and B) kept your feet dry.

It was there that I was most reminded of the fact that "Maybe my foot isn't totally healed" Ouchy, ouch ouch....ouch.

After that, we got to hang a right and start all over again. Same Road, Same Reason.

So, what with the dryness, the uneven course, the crowd...I took it pretty easy, nursing my foot for the most part. It was clear with that crowd and that course that I had absolutely no chance at any age group placement. I hit the first mile marker at 7:55, the (second!) second mile marker at 16:04, and the three mile marker at 24:13, finishing in a lame-time-for-a-5K 24:55...and happy to be done.

It took a few minutes for me to get my tongue unglued from the roof of my mouth (as mentioned it's DAMN dry here) and I fortified myself with several cups of water. Afterwards, I jog trotted back down Jones Boulevard and now we're hanging out for the rest of the day

It seems like a good running community and a fun Thanksgiving tradition. And, it's also been my experience that times are slower on off-road courses than on-road courses - must be the terrain or something. So, I'm really not all that disappointed with my finish time. I'm thankful to be running.

And the foot? Well.....it's achy. Probably not healed yet. And, Cayelin has started a "you-know-you-may-want-to-consider-either-not-doing-the-marathon-or-doing-the-half-instead" campaign on me, knowing that I haven't given up on the Tucson marathon a week from Sunday......

We'll see.

Won't we?

Yes.

We will see.....