The turkey pulls a hammy!

We could have spent Thanksgiving morning watching football and going through the Black Friday ads, but instead we spent it watching the grandkids race a giant turkey before most of us ran a 5k or 10K race at the Brazen Nitro Turkey event.

It was a clear, calm, and cool day. Perfect (unless you are a mud fan).

It was about a 1K to get from the parking lot to the starting area. Darci did not want to burn herself out early, so she managed to convince Uncle Jesse to carry her part of the way.

There were barrels set up to collect non-perishable food items for a local food bank. Jesse had to take Riley back out of the barrel though when it was decided that Riley was reasonably perishable.

The grandkid's dad, Ryan managed to get the kids bibbed.

The morning started with about 200 kids racing the Nitro Turkey. The Nitro Turkey claimed to have been working out intensely in the weeks leading up to this event, but there were doubters in the crowd.

And the doubters were proved right when the Nitro Turkey pulled a hamstring (yum - turkey AND ham together!) and barely managed to finish the 100 yard race.

All the kids received medals and goody bags. The plan was for me to take the grandkids over to the playground while the adults did their 5K and 10K races. As a complete surprise though, both of the kids wanted to go with their dad and Aubri on the 5K course. So I headed out about three quarters of a mile to both take pictures of all the runners streaming along the course and to provide a drop off point for the kids since there was no way they were going to be interested in going the whole 3.1 miles.

There were a LOT of 5K and 10K runners (around 600 total, not counting the kids and dogs that came along for the ride). Here is Jesse running past me.

And then Diane came flying past. She forgot her walking sticks at home, so she decided to try a bit of running.

A bit later Aubri and Riley showed up. Riley stood by me for about five seconds, saying he was going to stay with me, but before the words were out of his mouth, he was gone, chasing after Aubri (who probably really did want to hang out with me at this point).

Shortly after that Ryan and Darci showed up. Darci was seriously dragging, and I was sure she would stop. But she didn't. I knew that if the kids didn't stop here, they would have to finish the race since they were approaching the halfway point, and there were no shortcuts to get back. It was like a guy that swims halfway across a lake, decides he can't make it all the way, so swims back.

Once all the runners got past me, I cut across a field in time to catch many of the runners coming up on the three mile marker. Jesse was still looking very strong (and ended up running nearly the entire 10K, finishing with a great time of 1:01:11 - love the binary-ness of that number!).

Diane came by a bit later, also looking strong and feeling good. She finished with an impressive 1:30:54 time.

One note: When I do these events, I love the encouraging words and such from spectators and volunteers - they can be a huge inspiration. What does not always help though, are things like "You're almost done!" when you know good and well that you are not even halfway done.

At this point, both 5K and 10K people were running past me. Some had yellow bibs while others had blue bibs, indicating which race they were doing. I have been around a dozen or so Brazen events, and know that yellow bibs are always for 5K, blue for 10K, and red for Half Marathons (which they did not have today, so red was used for the kid's race).

But my brain somehow convinced itself that the blue bibs were 5K and yellow were 10K. Which meant I was the guy yelling "Almost done!" to the 10K people and "Almost halfway done!" to the 5K people, both of which probably thought I had been hanging around the Nitro Turkey a bit too long. Fortunately, I figured out the colors after a bit.

I wondered how the grandkids were doing. Then I could hear them. Darci yelling "We can't let a 3-year-old beat us!" among other things. Darci was hanging with another girl, and each was keeping the other going. Riley was full of energy though, and was still going strong. They all finished and finally got to attack the playground. And pie. And It's-It ice cream bars. And...

Jesse actually finished his 10K just ahead of the incredibly patient Aubri and Ryan, who managed to get the grandkids to their 5K finish line. We went out and came in with Diane.

Diane had a theory about who the Nitro Turkey actually was.

I have no idea, but was surprised that I didn't see Brazen Marie until really late in the morning.

To nobody's surprise, this was an amazingly fun event. There was a huge turnout, lots of giggling kids, a number of dogs, several costumes, and LOTS of pie! Mr and Mrs Brazen work very hard to make these events fun for the family, but they (and all the volunteers) really outdo themselves on this holiday.

A HUGE thanks to Sam and Jasmin for all their efforts putting on these events! Hopefully the two of you and the kids managed to find a few minutes to relax later in the day.

And managed to look the other way when it came to the Black Friday ads.

That's it - move along...(to Summit Rock!)