Running Shorts

Cincinnati is home to one of the more unique Thanksgiving traditions in the country: the Thanksgiving Day Race . Sure, most every city, town, and village has their own turkey trot in the morning; Cincinnati's is unique in it's longevity. Ever since 1908 (with only two years' exceptions), runners have dashed through the streets of Downtown and Northern Kentucky. This 104-year history makes Cincinnati's race the sixth-oldest race in the country - and the oldest in the Midwest. While in one year the race had less than ten runners, numbers now usually approach (or even top, if the weather is nice) 10,000. This year, due to some construction in the Downtown area, the 10k loop has changed (well, mostly just the first few miles and the home straightaway. ( Here is this year's course map ) Since I'm obviously not carrying a camera or anything while I'm racing, Dani and I drove the course this weekend and snapped some photos, thinking I'd take you on a tour ...

For the month of November, I've been working on 10k specificity. I had been planning on running the Rocket City Marathon in mid-December, but plans for that one fell through when the race director never received my elite athlete application. But no worries there, that just means I can put more emphasis on the Thanksgiving Day Race. This one is a Cincinnati tradition 104 years in the making. (It's actually one of the oldest road races in the country, behind the Boston Marathon) Because it's more of a local race, I'm not racing for prize money or compensation or recognition; I'm racing for pride and Cincinnati bragging rights. The Thanksgiving Day Race always brings out the best in the local competition, which makes it a challenge that I'm really looking forward to. And since I don't have to worry about any marathon training, I can really focus on the 10k distance. For the past month I've been working with a coach (more on that in a later post), and ...

After the cancellation of the race last year, this year's New York City Marathon had plenty of great stories. One of them was Meb Keflezighi, dealing with injuries and struggling to a sub-par race (something we've all been through), finishing with local sub-elite Mike Cassidy. In reaction to the experience, Cassidy wrote a fantastic reflection about the experience and about what it means to be a runner in general.  Here is the link from LetsRun . Read it. Cassidy is much more eloquent than me.