Thanksgiving and the Turkey Trot

Wow, this is the first time in 4 years, maybe, that I have not run in the Dallas Turkey Trot. I was simply too weak to finish 8 miles. Some of you may already know that two major factors are going on for me right now. First, I have not run more than 6 miles at any time since the Oct. 3, St. George Marathon. Second, I am now participating in a very intense eating regimen where I do not eat any carbs. Well, strict protein diet or Atkins. Whatever you want to call it. In any case, this makes it fairly difficult for me to run distances at a quick pace.

Last year I finished the race in 64 minutes, which is very good for me. I knew that this year I could barely finish it in 72 minutes, so there was certainly no hope of setting a PR. And for me, why run a race without trying for a PR.

There are people out there who will say my diet is dangerous. I disagree. One thing is certain, you can not perform at top levels when limiting carbohydrates. The kind of effort we runners do requires a healthy dose of carbs, proteins, fat and water to achieve maximum performance. However, limiting carbs will reduce your weight by forcing your body to burn a significant amount of fat as you shed pounds.

Don't worry about me, although I may be sluggish on the road, I am slowly reaching my goal. This is the same diet I used in 2004 to get rid of 75 lbs I didn't need or want. I was fully tested during that program and came out with a low cholesterol count and normal blood pressure. Don't imagine that I'm sitting around eating tons of meat and cheese. I still eat a lot of green, fibrous veggies. That helps to keep my system clean.

So anyway, I did miss the race and just hate that. Early this morning I took out the time to check in on my friends' times at the race. Very impressive I must say. Melisa Christian won again for the 3rd year in a row. This after taking second two weeks ago in the half marathon at San Antonio and not feeling 100%. She's a machine.

I have other friends who did very well, too. Biegel killed the course, and Robin Z. performed very well. Both PRs, I think. Kristina Martin ran a fast race - her blog (Boston Girl Kristina) is just to the right of this post (check it out). Elizabeth R. performed well, she has recently finished New York marathon with a 3:19. I saw Snead's time out there. Way to go Chris. Many more people as the race had over 35k runners.

Now I made up for my lack of performance on yesterday by hitting the dreaded treadmill this morning. I ran for about an hour, even though I wish I had the guts to run in the rain instead.

Maybe I will loop the lake tomorrow. One can only hope.

Never, never stop running.