Catchy headline, huh?  Well it’s true.  I got an invitation to visit my daughter’s new home for Thanksgiving so Merry and I drove to Knoxville, TN.  My daughter wanted to be sure I would really come, so she found a race for Thanksgiving morning around the UT campus.  Fortunately, the race didn’t start until 8:30 am, so my daughter, an avowed late night person, agreed to accompany us to the race.   

Race headquarters and the main sponsor was Riverside Tavern.  This is not a honky-tonk dive, but a class restaurant along the TN River.  It was 40 degrees outside and crisp even after an early morning rain, but we had warm harbor inside the restaurant prior to the race.  Upon receipt of my entry fee, they also invited me to run.  Seeing a large, young crowd, I inquired about an award for being from the farthest away; but soon found that participants came from all across the country, even California. 

Ten minutes before race start, everyone took shelter away from the starting line as it started a brisk rain.  In five minutes it was over, and we all scampered back to the start.  The gun went off on time and we sprinted down a narrow starting chute onto a wide boulevard.  The pavement was wet, but the air was still crisp and dry.  Before a mile was out I started sucking on peppermints to keep my tongue from sticking to the roof of my mouth.  The course was fairly flat for TN, and ran mostly along the river and through the campus.  The two or three hills were steep, but short.  Before mile two my top shirt was off and I was flying along in short sleeves.  Again, I couldn’t figure out how I could perspire in this cold breeze.  The final two miles went back along the TN River along a gentle bend.  The final half was a gradual up hill into the narrow starting chute.  My wife was late again with the camera, so we have no finishing photos of my glory. 

579 runners crossed the finish line.  The winner was a 26 year old visitor from the Atlanta Track Club that smoked the course in 25:10.  In fact, the first eight runners all broke 30 minutes; including the first female finisher.  Since this was the first 8K I have raced, I set a PR at 37:08.  There was a big group of us that ran the same pace and finished together.  However, they had more kick left than I did at the end.  Post race I couldn’t get into another layer of clothes fast enough to keep out the chill.  The race buffet was served on real china and with metal flatware!  However, I decided to skip the eats and do an easy jog where I cheered on a couple of guys over seventy young that were still racing.  Hope I can still go when I’m that old.  By the end of the cool down, it started a hard rain, so we all headed for home to prepare a feast big enough for 3 days!  But I knew I earned my gorging.  Happy Thanksgiving,  © Steve     Check out results and pictures at  www.ktc.org .