Happy Thanksgiving from this big ol’ turkey in the City Beautiful!
Today I went downtown to Lake Eola for the Seniors First Turkey Trot 5K. Last year Mom and I went and I ran in a full turkey costume; not wanting to repeat myself, I donned a cooked turkey outfit I bought off the internet a few months back. You should never do anything different on race day, the experts say. Well, I’d never run in a cooked turkey outfit stuffed with bubble wrap before today; had I done so, I’m not sure I *would* have run today.
Too cheap to pay the $5 to park closer to the start line, I convinced mom to park at a free meter on a side street a few blocks up. Plus, I wanted to be off the main thoroughfare as I got into the costume. If Clark Kent needs a phone booth to become Superman, I needed the backseat of my Mom’s Prius.
I had pre-suited up and determined I needed some greater structural integrity for the head to enable a bit more breathing room. Borrowing a 50 cent pair of damaged mouse ears Mom got at property control, I slid into the golden yellow skin of a cooked turkey.
Walking the streets of Orlando, a few passersby did double takes… although more than a few didn’t look twice, as if they often see a large costumed headless turkey strolling by.
We made it in time for the costume contest and I waddled away with first place in the individuals. A couple dressed honoring the classic WKRP In Cinncinnati Turkey Drop episode deservedly won their division and we snapped a pic at the start line a bit later.
Channel 13 actually interviewed me live on the spot which is bizarre as I was speaking to the cute field reporter through a mesh and no one could see my face — kinda ideal, really. Maybe I should always talk to a pretty girl with a bag on my head.
During the costume contest, I told my joke that I was trying to get my Boston Market Qualifying time, something TrakShak host (and runDisney regular host) Carrisa Bealert found amusing enough to take as her own throughout the day. If it makes somebody laugh, I’m all for it — after all, I was wearing a giant turkey costume. The other announcer said if I made it in under 30 minutes he’d say I qualified. Challenge… ACCEPTED!
There aren’t any photos of me taken from inside the costume. To be honest, it was hard to breathe in there — like I was in a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea diving helmet with limited oxygen supplies. It also got to be pretty darn hot in there, though I’m not sure whether that was from air trapped inside or the rising sun and temperatures. It was definitely a challenge.
In the end, I crossed the finish line around 22 or 23 minutes in and the race announcers had to acknowledge I got my “BMQ.” A few folks afterward grabbed selfies with me and said their goal was either to beat the turkey or at least catch up to me. I took that as a nice compliment.
As an aside, this morning at 2 AM I was battling insomnia and I had the realization that this morning’s 5K wouldn’t be sufficient mileage for a tapering into the weekend, So before heading downtown, I went out for a run at 3 AM. And I can’t blame that crazy on the lack of O2 in the turkey suit; that crazy is all me, all the time.
