When you head to Disney World for the Thanksgiving holiday, that doesn’t mean you get to skirt your responsibility to run a turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning. When looking for a race, the Ritz-Carlton Gobbler 5K was about a 20 minute Lyft from our hotel so we registered for the race and bright and early Thanksgiving morning made our way to the Ritz-Carlton for the run.

The race started right at the perfect Thanksgiving morning time of 7:30 AM and took runners on the cart paths of the back 9 of the golf course located at the hotel. There was nice scenery along the entire run as you would expect when running on a golf course.

The first stretch of the race was a bit crowded as runners made their way out onto the course as running over a cart bridge and narrow cart paths doesn’t allow a lot of wiggle room to get out from the crowd. About a half-mile in the race started to separate a bit and allowed for a bit more space on the course.

The race was a nice run on Thanksgiving morning but the $75 race registration fee per person was almost criminal. A long sleeve shirt that had the Ritz-Carlton logo on it but no mention of the race was given out and though medals were awarded to all runners the price just didn’t justify itself. Sure, small mimosas for those who drank were available and the post-run chair massage for five minutes was a nice treat but even simple things like water being in closed coolers on the course didn’t exactly live up to the expectations of what you would expect from a 5K race costing $75 per person. Plus, the course was about 3.3 miles long; not anything that I can’t tackle, of course, but another nit you would expect not to be the case for such an expensive 5K race. If proceeds were noted to go to a charity, maybe I’d feel differently about the cost of the race versus the experience but aside from that, no reason this race shouldn’t have been your standard $30 5K cost.

Mrs. Running Griffin and I ran the race together and cruised to a finishing time of 31:46, good for 10:14/miles against the advertised 5K distance.

If we end up back in Orlando for Thanksgiving, not sure we’d make this race the one we’d head unless they really rethink the cost structure of the race.

Knowing that the holidays are just ahead, a throng of runners made their way to Norwood, Massachusetts last Sunday for the 38th Annual Norwood Turkey Trot to ensure the four mile run gave everyone enough justification for another piece of pie. The Norwood Turkey Trot also served as the November Grand Prix Race for the Thirsty Irish Runners so it was nice to see some familiar faces before the race and out on the course.

The morning was a nice one for running, only thing to contend with was a good headwind at certain parts of the course. The race kicks off at 11AM from Norwood High School and then brings runners through a residential four mile course of Norwood. If you aren’t familiar with the run or the area, the course is a very challenging course with a good amount of climbing mixed into the course right up until the third mile marker where the hill work then becomes painstakingly difficult thanks to a massive climb up Nichols Street followed by another sharp uphill incline heading into the finish line.

Though I have been running pretty well lately the morning was a tough one to have tight calves and I could never really loosen up out on the course. Not the best race to have tight calves for given the amount of climbing but what can you do? Not every race is going to be awesome but crossing the finish line is a better end result than those who choose to do nothing athletic, right?

I finished up this year’s Norwood Turkey Trot with a time or 36:22, good for 9:06/miles.

Looking for a great bar option to help supplement the fueling needed to help out your running? Look no further! Evo Hemp Bars are a great option packed with protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Evo Hemp brings you the finest hemp-based foods and CBD products, all sourced from American farms. Boost your health with our protein-rich bars, hemp hearts, and more.

The cookie dough Evo Hemp Bar is delicious and is definitely a go-to fueling option after a good run. These bars are made with hemp hearts, the most nutritionally complete food source in the world, making them the perfect ingredient in a nutrition bar. Hemp Bars are a delicious way to infuse plant-powered nutrition at home or on the go. These Hemp Bars deliver clean, powerful nutrition with an amazing taste and texture. Made with quality ingredients including hemp seeds, cashew butter and chocolate chips.

Order today and get 20% off your first purchase with code WELCOME20! Click here to purchase your Evo Hemp bars today!

A little delayed getting this posting done but last weekend it was off to Hanson, Massachusetts for Damien’s Freaky 5K. Hosted at a local, neighborhood haunt known for having some amazing South Shore bar pizza, this race was the October Grand Prix Series run for the Thirsty Irish Runners so a number of TIR teammates packed the starting line along with a nice crowd of other runners making this the largest field of runners to ever run the Freaky 5K.

Runners can dress up and don Halloween costumes for this race and there are some real gems of costumes out on the course. Kudos to two guys who decided to wear jeans and jean shorts as part of their costumes which had to have caused a significant chafing situation to be dealt with post-run. Vikings, football players, police officers and maybe even someone dressed up as a convict running for president were seen out on the course but for the less adventurous runners like myself the day made for some nice running conditions to rock shorts and a long-sleeve out on the course.

The course has a nice upward climb in the first mile and though it is nothing too signficant, you are climbing for most of the first mile. After a quick left into a neighborhood you then flatten out for a bit in the second mile and there is a water stop you can hit as you make your way both in and out of the neighborhood. Because it is an out-and-back course, the climbing of the first mile provides you with a nice downhill finish in the final mile and as you make your way back to Damien’s you begin to be greeted by a relatively nice crowd of folks cheering runners into the finish line.

Finished up Damien’s Freaky 5K with a time of 25:42, good for 8:17/miles. Post-run, runners could stick around the parking lot for burgers, hot dogs and beer but we ended up hitting up one of our favorite coffee shops, Slacktide Coffee Roasters, which was about 10 minutes down the road instead.