This past Thursday meant my usual Thanksgiving tradition, which is running around like a turkey and making “gobble gobble” sounds.

Just kidding about the latter. I didn’t have to when there were plenty of kids doing so for the “Gobble Gobble” 0.5-mile kids run in Fort Collins, which preceded the more mature (but boring-sounding, name-wise) “Thanksgiving Run” by 15 minutes.

Thankfully the 4-mile run was a bit more exciting than its title.

At least 1370 runners showed up, including some really fast people from Santa Fe, NM (who ended up winning both the male overall and masters’ grand prizes) and even someone from Namibia (he came in 9th). How did a town of 130,000 people like Fort Collins manage to get this caliber of runner to turn out for what was the largest Thanksgiving run in Northern Colorado ever? Bribe them! :)

Look at the purse for the top 5 men and women overall:

1st place: $800
2nd place: $500
3rd place: $300
4th place: $150
5th place: $50

There was money available for the top masters runners (those over 40), too. The awards didn’t end with dinero, either. For top age-groupers, there were also pumpkin pies.

Alas, even among my age group there were too many people running sub-6 minute miles, so no pie for me. I was pretty happy with how the race went, though:

About 15 minutes before the start off of College Ave. in Old Town, I stripped down to a singlet, running shorts, and some thin liner gloves. Then I proceeded to near the front of the starting area, where I saw my friends Tom and Diana.

At 9:00 the race promptly started. Not having run too much lately and lacking the confidence to try to stay with the front-runners for even a little bit, I decided to start out conservatively and try to pick up the pace the last half of the race.

It sort of went like that for me. The first mile I felt comfortable with springs in my legs, running a 6:34. The second mile was more rough. It was more of an un-lively feeling than something that could be pinpointed to, say, my lungs, stomach, or legs. I barely squeezed out that mile under seven minutes.

I did recover enough for the second half, averaging 6:27 over the last two miles. This average was abetted by beginning my sprint just outside the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant (where, before I even started the race, I resolved to start kicking from there), maybe 100 feet before the Mountain/College Ave. corner leading to a 200-meter finishing straight.

Overall average: 6:37. Basically, the same overall pace as my last 4 out of 6 races between 5-8 kilometers in Fort Collins this year. Well, at least I’m consistent!

Afterwards, inside Old Chicago, I encountered my friends Dana and Nick (with baby Alistair), and we chatted for a while. Nick was one of the sub-6-minute milers in our age group, but even he missed out on the pies, coming in 5th. Oh well, it was enough for us to be running around like turkeys without having to carry back a whole pumpkin-flavored dessert afterwards.

Fortunately, it didn't weigh quite as much as a microwave and I have no stories about breaking backs, strained leg muscles, etc. Actually, a two-year-old could have easily picked up the box (assuming he could get his arms around it) considering that the whole package could not have weighed more than one pound. What was in it? Styrofoam chips!

Well, mostly. Now, from the way the contents were packaged (double boxed, no less), you would have thought that someone had shipped me a glass goose or perhaps the golden egg. Something that would crack with the slightest hint of impact or shatter if you sneezed on it.

In fact, buried within all of the fluffy, white, statically-charged styrofoam that insisted on clinging to any part of my body that came into contact with were a few much-needed auto parts for my 1969 MGB.

See the photo below. I had ordered some valve seals (o-rings), two rubber grommets, a decal sticker, and an air injection manifold. These items are at the bottom of the picture. You could have haphazardly tossed any of these items off the top of a two-story building and none of these items would have been even remotely damaged upon hitting the ground.

The rest of the items in the photo are packing materials. Don't you think this was a bit excessive? It took 15-20 minutes, three plastic shopping bags and a shop vac to clean up and dispose of all this... never mind how many trees were sacrificed for the cardboard and that styrofoam isn't exactly the most environmentally-sound stuff.

I love being outside, even in the winter.  There are some days, however, when Mother Nature throws a hissy fit and starts blowing everything all over the place, as witnessed by the pages of yesterday's newspaper swirling around and accumulating in my front yard.  These wind-chilled days where the perceived temperature is like -50 F (okay, I'm exaggerating) often dissuades me from going for a run or -- worse -- go for a bike ride, lest I get blown off the road and my fingers and toes go numb from near-frostbite.

So what to do on those days -- stay inside, lay on the couch and watch reruns of Grey's Anatomy?  Yesss!  I mean, sometimes.  Other times I prefer to be a little more active (keeps me warmer. :)) 

There are several sports one can do inside, of course, if you can stand the snooze-inducing monotony of some of them.  Take pedaling on a stationary bike, for example.  I think my personal record for being on one of those is about 8.5 minutes.  After that I was dripping sweat all over the machine and instead of feeling inspired like Lance Armstrong, I felt more like Roberto Duran in his second match against Sugar Ray Leonard, screaming, "¡No mas!  ¡No mas!"

There are other indoor activities which are more fun, of course, such as bowling.  Then again, bowling isn't exactly a sport, at least if you've seen me play.  The strength and skill required for me to gutter the ball every few minutes is little to none.

My nomination, then, for best indoor sport is this: indoor rock climbing.

Rock climbing requires balance, strength, flexibility, and a little bit of guts.  Unlike many repetitive sports (e.g., running), it also requires some brain cells.  I've heard of climbing being compared to chess in some circles because it often requires thinking a little bit in advance -- looking for the next holds, plotting one's next moves, etc.  Sequence is often important.

Unlike, say, bowling, one is actually accomplishing something useful: getting to the top of a wall.  Ok, so it is little bit of a stretch to call this "useful," unless you are Spiderman and have to rescue people from the side of the 100th floor along a skyscraper.  But in theory, it is!  I mean, what if you locked yourself out of your house and the only way in was through a sliding door on the second floor?  (Call a locksmith.)  Or your cat was stuck on the top of a tree and refused to come down?  (Call a fireman.)  Ok, ok...

From a practical standpoint, indoor climbing has a number of advantages over outdoor climbing, including not having to set up anchors, being able to do a lot more climbs in a limited amount of time, arguably being safer, etc.  Not to mention not freezing off your digits on those -50 degree days.

Finally, indoor rock climbing can be a very social sport.  Between tying in and taking a breather between routes, there is ample opportunity to talk to others.  Unlike in, say, cycling, where one has to shout above the wind to another rider behind between gasps of air, one can converse at a perfectly normal and comfortable volume and pace inside a gym.

Now if I had a few more regular rock climbing partners.  I have monthly membership at the Gym of the Rockies, with a few free guest passes.  If you are interested in climbing or having someone show you the ropes, drop me a line at felix@horsetoothdesign.com or sign the comment form below.  Have fun!

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