To all Masters Runners desperately hanging on to the dream...Good luck at your Turkey Trots!!

i never wear spandex...just my old, pasty white legs for all to see. hmm, maybe i should wear spandex out of respect.

i wear glasses, but never in a race--they would just slide off my nose from the sweat.

i do like wait around to get my medal...my kids are disappointed if i don't bring them back one--they're the ones collecting them.

i don't elbow people in races--that's just plain rude. besides, going out in a 14-flat 100 meters is really stupid...at any age.

i'm not actually reliving my youth...i rarely ran on the roads. i was all about the track in my 20s. i hated road racing. and the 5k races were for the joggers. i think i ran about a half-dozen 10ks in my career. that's what we ran in the 80s. in fact, most races would go out at 15-flat halfway through--the kind of time our younger counterparts of today would kill for.

if you're at dana pt. this weekend, you won't have to worry about the old dudes--we have our own race.

happy TG!!

amby burfoot wrote:

But I have a good feeling about tomorrow's race.

That tomorrow's gonna be a good race.

That tomorrow's gonna be a good, good race.

Amby, this couldn't have been expressed any better. This should be on the front page.

I agree with you Dick that the runners of today "as a whole" are not as good as during the first running boom but that is mainly because there are not a whole lot of them. The good ones are as good, if not better, than the guys of our generation. It's just that there are so many more options for kids these days with soccer, etc. that the fields aren't nearly as deep. Hence, your 16 and change time back in the day would have you buried in the results, while today, place wise you look pretty good, but you're still 60 to 90 seconds behind the winner.

amby burfoot wrote:

But I have a good feeling about tomorrow's race.

Amen brother, amen.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may your travel today be safe and swift to your loved ones for tomorrow's day of thanks.

Yes, my first response was not original; but it was merely an homage to the 2007 thread. May this thread live on as long as the LetsRun gods permit.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all Runners, young and old.

And thank you LetsRun for putting this on the frontpage as one of the top solid threads!

well said! I'm passing it on to a colleague who has lost the fire a little - maybe it will help him get on the line.

And I'll be at a 5k on Sunday, ready to blast the first mile just a little too fast, on purpose.

I'm not sure which Amby is more famous for: winning Boston in 1968 or in a RW booklet in the early 70s, have it said (regarding LSD training) 'Burfoot ran an 8:40 2 mile off of mostly 7 minute miles in training'. (thanks, Joe...it didn't work for me!) ;)

lardy wrote:

I bet Ed Whitlock would kill you in a race.

Runners have 2 options as they get older:

1) Become a non runner

2) Become a masters runner

But since you have discovered the fountain of eternal youth, you clearly have thought of a third way.

Well done - now go back to your 17 minute 5k runs and impress the girls in your office, where you presumably deliver the mail.

Thank you for reminding Dick how it is. Nobody enjoys boasting.......at any age.

Dear Young and Vig --thanks for the well wishes. Much better growing old than dying young. Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow on Turkey Day, hundreds of thousands of runners will spread out across the start line and then explode into hundreds of thousands individual 5Ks, 10Ks, 8Ks, and in Manchester - 4.78 milers.

For those of us who grew up on races with 50 competitors, a chalked start and finish line (and good luck finding your way along the rest of the course), and Popsicle sticks in the chute, this IS the dream!

And every time I line up for another Turkey Trot, I'm proud as hell to have been part of the generation that helped make running a national pastime.

Now, if I could only hear the starting gun - oh, and remember where I parked the car....

Newbie Master wrote:

And when I am 100 meters from the finish line I'll pull out my 40 year old rod and sac and scream, "GOBBLE GOBBLE MOTHERF**KERS!"

Newbie Master - well done.

I never thought anything could top the original 2007 post, but nothing is funnier than old rod and sac. Put the two together and you have yourself a perfect LR post.

I am thankful to have refound the dream! I for one have acheived many of the professional successes the younger runners on this site will aspire to, but at the end of the day I cherish my God, my family and my running shoes. Good luck all, yound and old, in your races this weekend!

Okay I'll rethink the tights

SoCal Pete wrote:

Tomorrow on Turkey Day, hundreds of thousands of runners will spread out across the start line and then explode into hundreds of thousands individual 5Ks, 10Ks, 8Ks, and in Manchester - 4.78 milers.

For those of us who grew up on races with 50 competitors, a chalked start and finish line (and good luck finding your way along the rest of the course), and Popsicle sticks in the chute, this IS the dream!

And every time I line up for another Turkey Trot, I'm proud as hell to have been part of the generation that helped make running a national pastime.

Now, if I could only hear the starting gun - oh, and remember where I parked the car....

I doubt there's hundreds of thousands of races, but we get the point (and it's a good one).

It would be interesting to know exactly how many road races in the U.S. are run on Thanksgiving. I'm guessing no more than 1,000. That's an average of 20 per state.

claurence wrote:

Newbie Master wrote:

And when I am 100 meters from the finish line I'll pull out my 40 year old rod and sac and scream, "GOBBLE GOBBLE MOTHERF**KERS!"

Am I the only one who didn't think this was that funny? Of course, it could be the disparity in IQ, as I sometimes find the pedestrian mind laughs at inanity. It was mildly amusing, but I guess to smarter people it wasn't particularly funny. No offense, newbie master, you ostensibly amused the dimwits...

Bachelors in math, tested IQ at 140 in grade school, laughing to tears for the past 5 minutes.

What a great post! I would just like to add a few things from my point of view. This is my last year in my 20's, and yes some of us get cocky, think we rule the roads, but really I just love competition. I'm out to better myself and others that follow and love to compete..with age yes we slow down, and hopefully learn to appreciate things a little more. There is always going to be a new stud ready to share claim in victory, but I do know master runners have pride in it as well, and have been there before, long before I was winning a race. I have never been the runner who thinks I am better than so and so..but sticking around after the races is what I cherish.I think meeting other runners goes beyond a medal (yes they are great), but hearing storys, sharing knowledge, obtaining new training ideas etc.makes me enjoy our sport! You won't find me showing up other runners younger or older, because most of the time they are learning about me as an individual, racing or not! I have found master runners being a huge part of my willingness to keep trying harder, because they may not be clicking off 5:10's anymore, but they are still trying just as hard or harder than me.Times slow down as we age, but passion and competitiveness is still there and I give props to that.I understand my Turkey Day 5K tomorrow goes beyond winning or losing, because I have started to take notice in what the sport means to me outside of just "me". Enjoy your Holiday run everyone!

Let's not forget our medical alert bracelets tomorrow at the races. Safety first!