Running Tradition

Traditions...its what Thanksgiving is all about. After all, there is no other day that I even allow green bean casserole on my dinner table, but I wouldn't do without it on the fourth Thursday of November.

So a big tradition in our family is running on Thanksgiving morning. I first ran the Thanksgiving Half marathon when I was in high school and have either run it or volunteered at the start line almost every year since.

Things change and traditions change...This year we decided to pass the torch to the next generation. (Yes, I know I'm a bit young to pass torches, but I did it anyway. I ran with Farley in my parent's neighborhood, so I also earned my turkey even if I did not earn a shirt.)

We shared with our little runners all of the traditions of race morning (except the 4AM wake up call).

Here they are patiently waiting for the race to start, as we arrived way too early.

A little warm up jog...


And stretching, of course...


Andrew even managed a smile as he stretched.


And, of course, lying down in the middle of the road as we waited for the race.


Andrew and Amanda ran the "Gravy Gallop," a 50 yard dash. They ran it by age groups. Here is Andrew's start.


You can barely see little Amanda in the center of the picture, just to the left of the lady in the blue sweatshirt. She galloped at full speed. She was so fast that my camera didn't have time to recover before she sped past me.

Scott ran the "Mashed Potato Mile."

The best part of any race is the post-race snack.


And the post race water.


You can see that everyone received a medal because they ran with smiles on their faces. :)