My Return to the Turkey Trot

Last year, I didn't race a Turkey Trot, so I was excited to join Shawn at the Camp Letts YMCA Turkey Chase. I signed up a few days ago when I was certain that it would fit into my schedule and that dad would join me. It was too cold for Miles, so he stayed and Mom watched him. Last year, Shawn was third overall and first in our age group so I thought this would be a good race to place high.

My father and I pre-race with the mascots. Three turkeys and a raccoon!

Shawn and I warm up for the race

Shawn stretches to "Y-M-C-A!"

I have to change my expectations when I am sick. I have battled a head cold for the couple of days. And while I was able to place in the top ten, I was barely on track to break 40. The course is not easy: it is run on a gravely road (I bruised the outside of my foot during warm up) and through a grassy field and through a trail in the woods with roots, rocks, and standing water. This is not a PR course. I tried to hang with Shawn early, starting the race on the line, but after the first mile I fell back - I made a strategic decision to try to run slower at first then close the gap later. He was wearing bright red and I could see him through the bucolic scenery. Even when he put 20-30 seconds ahead of me, I figured I could make that up over the last 2-3 miles. But coming back to the finish, I didn't have that finishing gear. I wasn't gassed, but I was stuck at my pace. Shawn finished nearly a minute ahead of me - he out-kicked a 54 year old guy to claim 5th overall.

And we're off!

The race sent me photos (link) and results. It reported that me as 8th and 4th in my age group with a guy besting me by 4 seconds. That didn’t sound right - there was no one in the 10K ahead of me. I emailed the race director about the results, pointing out that a 41 year old male from Laurel, MD, bib 153 finishing four seconds ahead of me did not race the 10K. I attached finishing video my father shot and photos from the race's pictures. And Shawn testified to back up my claim.

Early in the race

They replied, “Hi Kenny; Congratulations on a great race! We will certainly check this out. It certainly makes sense he ran the 5k but was signed up for the 10k; which is what was used for scoring. It happened more than once. Give us a couple days to gather any other anomalies and we will repost results. Thanks; Ron”

Finishing almost a minute behind Shawn

After about a week or so, they concluded that he did, in fact, not race the 10K. They emailed:

"The Race Director has authorized us to make the change moving Warren to 5k. Mark will re-calculate results and will update the posted results.
Thanks for your patience;
Ron"

I appreciate that they got this right. I was moved up to 7th overall and 3rd in my age group. In the grand scheme, it means little, but it is nice to have the record accurately reflect the final results.