It's Just Abbey

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today I rolled out of bed and quickly searched for some water. You see, yesterday was by birthday! I turned the big two four and, long story short, finally crawled into bed around 2am.

I got up to great the thankful day around 7am and woke all the drifters in my apartment because it was RACE DAY! We were running the Smoke the Turkey 5K in Toledo, Ohio. We weren’t going for the gold or anything. We were just going to take it nice and slow. Having fun (and not vomiting) was the name of the game.

Since I am not sure what my friend’s stances are on me publishing their names on my blog publically, I will give them all nicknames to save trouble and make it easier for it all to be published when I get a book deal. Hint, hint.

Today’s key players were my best friend Phedre, her boyfriend Delta and my boyfriend Hoppie.

Phedre and I were going to be running and I strapped Hoppie with a camera and Delta was in charge of staying awake and alert. I wasn’t too sick or tired from my birthday celebrations, but I can’t say the same for my companions. They were a little green and annoyed by my perky race day mood.

I was the only one registered to actually run. My dearest Phedre was broke as hell and was a race day bandit. Boo and hiss all you want but $25 bucks was a stretch for her and she didn’t steal any food from paying runners. We ran together the whole time in awesome, silly hats. I was a mouse and my bandit was a bear. We got a lot of compliments on those hats even though they made no sense at all.

Anywho, it was a chipped race but I took my Garmin 305 anyway just to see how accurate it was. We started (but didn’t hear a gun….) and we took off. We stayed at a pretty constant 10 minute mile. Not at all race pace for me but it was fun to just run with a friend and have a blast. We ran through a few suburbs and there was a constant crowd. At 1500 people, it may be the largest 5k I have ever raced. There were great spectators and great runners. Everyone was cheering each other on. We were some of the loudest cheerleaders. There was always a smile on our faces and I am pretty sure it was contagious.

Note: To the guy in the Lions hat. When two people are running shoulder to shoulder it is usually considered BAD FORM to burst between us, put your hands on our shoulders, push us apart and spit out, “Excuse me!” You are lucky I was in a good mood.

Towards the end I told Pherde we had .2 miles to go and we rounded the corner chanting, “We got this! Almost there! Push it out!” We came around the final corner and I said, “You see that guy in the orange shirt? We are going to beat him. Go!” And we kicked to the finish. I then noticed that there were three people in front of us with orange shirts. I didn’t care. We sprinted like there was something chasing us. I grabbed my best friends hand and we crossed together like champs.

It was an amazing race and a great first Turkey Trot for me. I am gearing up for my brother to come back from Basic Training. He has challenged me to a 5K when he is home. He is going to smoke me. Must look into speed work… Happy holidays kids! Be thankful and merry!