First, Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you and your family have a wonderful day of giving thanks.  I know I am thankful for much, includes my wonderful wife, friends, running, and you my fellow runners and blog friends!

In my first-ever Thanksgiving Day race I completed the 4.5 mile Drumstick Dash hosted by Tuxbro in Broad Ripple (Indianapolis). According to their website over 5,000 signed up for this 5th annual event. 

I traveled to the event with the Rayl family (Brian, Kelly, and Logan), all three of them completed the race! We all ran good races and had an excellent morning together!

The race began at 9am between Broad Ripple High School and the shopping plaza with the Running Company (event sponsor).  The high school’s electronic sign said the temperature was 32 degrees, the car thermometer read 38, and the official temperature from Tuxbro says 37.  So it was somewhere in the mid-30’s with gusting winds at the start.  Due to the wind I wore tights and a long-sleeve shirt and other runners were wearing as little as a singlet or shorts all the way to a guy in a parka and pants! It spit rain a few times and afterwards there was some white stuff falling too!

This race includes a turkey chase so we watched the 6 foot tall turkey ride through the crowd, high-fiving everyone, before he got about a minute running head start.  His captors (female and male) later finished the race 39th and 83rd (respectively), but their sprint from the start netted them some type of award. There were also some great costumes!

I ran with Logan for the first mile which ended in a neighborhood but included some of the major thoroughfares of Broad Ripple. We took it out at a comfortable pace and kept it relaxed while the large crowd sorted itself out.  They had people holding signs with pace times at the starting line so that you could line up in some type of order, which made for a pretty decent starting pack. We came through the first mile at 6:22.

The entire course was on roads, so nothing too exciting happened.  There were some people along the streets cheering, but not a lot.  The streets were a little wet from yesterday’s rain which caused some puddles in little dips and the side of the road.  One concern was that we were all taking the turns pretty close to the curb and there were leaves collected in the gutters which made it a little slippery.  Logan pulled away from me and I came through the 2nd mile at 6:28.

A water stop was available at about 2.5 miles which was also at the top of a hill.  Nothing real serious here, but just something to make you think about your stride and pace.  I took it in stride and I don’t think it bothered me too much.  Throughout the race I was continually passing people while only occasionally being passed as well.  Right after the water stop was the turn off point for the short course.  They offered two distances the 4.5 (which was timed and scored) and a 2.6 mile course which was not scored (they had a clock so you knew your time).  I came through the third mile at 6:36.

This next mile wound through a neighborhood circle.  Going into the neighborhood I could see the runners coming back out.  They were probably the back of the first packs. During this 1/2 mile loop.  I threw in a surge to try and catch the next pack in front of me. I continued passing groups of people as we turned onto Broad Ripple Ave and came through the 4th mile in 6:38.

The last 1/2 mile had a slow downhill, a quick uphill, and then a nice downhill finish! The finish line wasn’t marked overhead with a banner or anything so I wasn’t sure exactly where it was.  At the top of the hill two, what appeared to be, college runners took off for a sprint finish.  The first guy took off and the other one yelled at him and then chased him down.  It was funny to see, but didn’t really inspire me to try and sprint to the finish! I did pick up the pace and passed a good amount of runners in this section to finish the half-mile at 3:08.  My overall time was 29:14 (6:30).

I’m completely fine with that time, I had no expectations and haven’t done much running or any speedwork for a few weeks.  It would have been nice to beat Logan again (I beat him at Pop Weaver 5K), but oh well!! There was lots of food and water at the finish area.  Starbucks, the Noodle Company, and the Sunflower Market were all giving products away.  The Running Company had an amazing sale, but most of the stuff had already been picked over. The event shirt was a very nicely done black, Brooks Technical shirt!

All proceeds from this event benefit the Wheeler Mission in Indianapolis. The race slogan was Move Your Feet So Others Can Eat!

Overall this was another great event by Tuxbro.