Frozen Turkey Trot

The starting line at the Turkey Trot

Yesterday was our Thanksgiving celebration here in MacTown. The celebration is delayed until Saturday so we can get a two day weekend. For many of us it has been the first two day weekend in three months. After having yesterday off I woke up several times last night realizing I didn't need to go to work today and happily rolled over to go back to sleep.

One of McMurdo's annual Thanksgiving traditions is a 5K race called the Turkey Trot. The race starts at the chapel, goes up the main station road, then down a hill, out to the ice runway and back. About 250 people signed up to run and many more came to watch.

I had been running 3.2 miles on the treadmill in just over 30 minutes so I was hoping with the cold and the hills I would be abe to finish in under 35 minutes. My time was 27:29 so I made that goal comfortably coming in 85th overall.

Me at the finish line. Outside temperature was 25F
so half of the race was on mud the other half on ice.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and having an awesome meal with linen tablecloths in the galley. Thanksgiving is as close to a formal event as we get here, quite a few of the men (including me) were wearing ties for the first time in months. There are three seatings for Thanksgiving dinner and I was at the latest. I hadn't eaten since 9 am before the race so I was pretty hungry when 7 pm rolled around.

Today I'm enjoying a second day off and will be going to a lecture in a few minutes that one of the documentary filmmakers on station is giving. It will be nice to hear what this guy with a camera is trying to capture.

Happy belated thanksgiving to everyone back home!