“What if we want to change from the 5m to the 25k?”
That was my response to the Turkey Trot weather warning.
The forecast for the Hudson Valley called for temperatures below 20 degrees and winds of 10 to 20 miles per hour. The Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club told people in the five-mile race that they could move down to the two-mile race if the cold sounded like too much.
I asked about going the other direction.
The organizer said it was possible. I could hand in my five-mile bib and register again for the 25K. I had signed up for the Joe Maggi five-mile race a few days earlier, so changing meant giving that bib back at Arlington High School.
Whatever plan existed the night before, the result sheet made race morning clear. I ran the five.
My time was 30:42.07, a pace of 6:08 per mile. I finished seventh overall and second among men ages 30 to 39. The Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club archive lists all four races from that morning: the 25K, five mile, two mile, and kids race.
The photographs are less subtle. One shows my name in seventh place on the printed results taped to a wall. Another shows a table covered with gold plastic trophies. The one in front has a turkey in the middle and a small engraved plate below it.
“5 Mile. 2nd Place. 30 to 39. Male.”
The race director had given me a way into the 25K. The five-mile result gave me the trophy.