Last year for this glorious holiday, I was in Japan eating sushi by myself watching the movie Elf with subtitles. It was perfect! This year, I’m thankful to have a new experience that went something like this:
Run to feed the hungry is a 10K Run & 5K Run (or walk) to support the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services. This is the 21st annual event and it hit records with nearly 28,000 participants, making it the largest Thanksgiving run in California!
I was up and out of the house by sunrise to meet up with friends.
Due to parking and the lack there of, we chose to take a very entertaining bike ride that led us to the starting point of the 5k run (or race, or walk or crawl… you’re choice)
Fun Fact:
Thanksgiving was meant to be a fast, not a feast. The settlers at Plymouth Rock mostly recognized “giving of thanks” in the form of prayer and abstaining from food. But the Indians who joined the pilgrims for their 3-day celebration, contributed their own harvest traditions called Nickommoh meaning “to give away” or “exchange”. A festival of dancing, games and feasting!
Here we waited for our group to gather so we could begin the race!
A bit of a late start but I must admit, we weren’t racing this run… Simply enjoying the event with wonderful friends!
Fun Fact:
In 1953, someone at Swanson overestimated (by 260 tons!) the amount of turkey Americans would consume that Thanksgiving. Gerry Thomas recovered this mistake by ordering 5,000 aluminum trays, recruiting an assembly line of women and began creating mini-feasts of turkey, corn-bread dressing, peas and sweet potatoes — creating the first-ever TV dinner!
Along this walk, you’ll spot all ages in bundles of families, friends, fitness groups, business partners and more. Even a few paw babies too!
Fun Fact:
In 1982 Thanksgiving fell on November 25th and viola… I was born! (My mom may have a slightly different version).
I know a little lady who slept well this night. Who wouldn’t want to play in those leaves?!
Handstand time… Looks like we started something!
Fun Fact:
More Americans are trading in the original Butterballs for Turduckens. A what? Picture this: a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Genius or too much? No comment.
Almost done!
We took our time to make sure there was proper clean up and to help guide the cop cars through the finish line. (In other words they were telling us to hurry up because the race was over).
Fun Fact:
The woman who wrote the classic nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” also played a role in making Thanksgiving a national holiday. After a 17-year letter-writing campaign, magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale finally convinced President Abraham Lincoln to recognize the historic tradition. Go Mary!
Success!
A special thanks to JC, Kate, Hayden, Katie, Austin, sis and the EFP crew for the amazing kickstart to this magical holiday!
Her Happy Trails 