Piggly Wiggly Turkey Trot 2007
Nov 23rd, 2007 by Brian
Piggly Wiggly Turkey Trot 2007, originally uploaded by outdoor_type.
Race shirts. I have a lot of them. In fact, because I cover around 20 a year, most of my t-shirts are race t-shirts. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve had to buy more hangars for all the shirts and now for some races, I don’t even bother to get a shirt. Today though, today I wanted the shirt, and not just because I was actually racing. Today I wanted the shirt for Mr. Pig.
Not long after arriving on the island my brother and his girlfriend talked me into running the 19th annual Piggly Wiggly Turkey Trot. I wasn’t 100% sure about it but I managed to get up really freakin’ early and drove with them to the race start to get checked in and registered. Even as we stood in line to register I was still on the fence, but after seeing the shirt, I knew I had to run. It might seem silly, but I’ve always liked the name Piggly Wiggly and that pig, I mean, how can you not look at that pig and smile? Plus, he was wearing a pilgrim’s hat. Pig’s in hats are funny!
The morning started grey and threatened rain, but it was warm, in the mid-60s. The pre-race scene was very familiar to me, but I have to say it felt more than a little odd being there sans camera. Equally disconcerting was how I kept scanning the crowd of gathering runners, nearly 600 1,200, and not one face looked familiar. At one of my normal races it seems I know or recognise at least half the field.
I didn’t have a watch so I’m not sure we started exactly at the advertised 8:15am, but after a quick (and in audible) pre-race speech the race began. The mass of people slowly gathered speed and spread out along the road and I got into a steady but slow pace. I’ll skip over the boring details except to say that I met all three of my standard racing goals:
- Finish
- Don’t Finish Last
- Don’t Throw Up
And I will also add that while I do not mind being passed by fellow racers (even mother’s pushing strollers) I did feel a little bad about the guy who passed me while running with his dog. Now, you might wonder what is so demoralizing about being passed by a man and his dog? The answer is that when the dog is a tiny little creature the sizze of a nalgene bottle and with legs barely four inches long, well, that just isn’t right. I might have to add to my my race goals something about being passed by four legged micro-beasts.
The good news is that in less than an hour I was across the finish line and headed to the post-race refreshments where runners had their choice of several types of beverages. On one table stood many bottles of Powerade, a drink that in my opinion pales in comparison to Gatorade. Other people must have had shared this opinion because the Powerade table was not doing a brisk business. Or maybe it’s just that Powerade could not compete with the other choice of drink… beer. Pop quiz: After an early morning run what tastes better than ice cold beer poured from the tap? Answer: Nothing.
All in all the Turkey Trot was a nice way to start a day of gluttonous eating. I can see how this could easily become a tradition.
Update: Read an actual news article describing the race.
