Trotting for Turkeys.

Early Thanksgiving morning Karen and I took to the streets of Naperville to ride the wave of sweaty, heavy-breathing humanity known as the annual Naperville Noon Lions 5 K Turkey Trot, to raise money, apparently, for "serving":

Karen was going for a PR or, as it's called in the secretive and dangerous world of running: Personal Record. As you can see from her photo above, even before the race she was moving faster than what the lens of the iPhone could capture. She achieved her goal, finishing the race at 28:37, over four minutes faster than what she ran in 2006 (to be fair, she was catering to her slob husband who was doing all he could just to remain upright and breathing), and nearly a minute faster than when she ran it in 2003, just after Aido Potato was born at a time in her life when she considered herself in pretty decent shape, or at least extremely motivated to start moving again after having a baby.

My goal was to complete the race in just around the time the dude who won the Boston Marathon finished. Both Karen and I were pleasantly surprised by my time: 29:18. Check out the picture. Look at that fine specimen of a man. My right thumb became excruciatingly hot right before the race; I was airing it out before getting down to business. I must have done a simultaneous three miles just with that thumb navigating the iTunes function of my phone, trying to get the right running song. With all the commotion of running and dodging kids who were spontaneiously running the opposite way, I somehow managed to get the thing to play Wham, "Wake Me Up Before You Go, Go!" on repeat for the duration of the race. My left eye is still twitching.

Karen and I took part in a training program through CARA called the Six Drumsticks, meeting at various local drinking establishments on Tuesday nights for six weeks prior to Thanksgiving to run between 3 and 5 miles, then come back to the tavern for drinks, appetizers, and a raffle. This was definitely my kind of training program. We liked it so much, we're signing up for the one that helps train for the Shamrock Shuffle in the spring. Beer and gambling always motivate me.