A personal 7-mile turkey trot

Some people run turkey trots to make themselves feel better by stuffing themselves at Thanksgiving. This year I was going to run a 5k, but after talking with a friend of mine the other day I decided to just run with a few other people, and log more than 3.1 miles. I was a bit hesitant at first to do what they were planning to do, but I stuck with it this morning and in the end had no guilty feelings about stuffing myself this afternoon. And I saved $20 in the process.

We ended up running 7 miles ... yes, SEVEN miles on big hills in Bedford that I'm not used to anymore. This coming from me who has cut way back on running since August. My longest run since the Rock 'n' Roll Half has just been 5 miles, I think, while I've mostly stuck to runs between 3 and 4 miles with a lot of cross training. Today was the answer I was looking for -- cross training does go a long way. At the same time, though, it doesn't fully replace running.

Don't look for me to change my plans for this winter -- I still plan to keep doing what I'm doing with less running. I am happy though to know that I can still push out a distance like I did today with no problems. Overall it was a great run. Of course with a group we started off faster than I would have liked -- the first mile was just a tad over 8 minutes -- but overall we kept a good pace. Two of the guys pushed it at the end while me and another guy hung back, finishing in just about a 9-minute mile pace. It made me feel good about what I might be able to do next time I run a 5k.

Lastly, I'd just like to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone out there. I hope you had a great day, and if you happened to run a turkey trot or something even longer, I hope you had a great run.