2023 Turkey Trot

According to an anonymous source (because they were unauthorized to speak about the event), the beneficiary of Gait-to-Gate month will be St. Jude Children's Research Hospital . The more we walk, the more a certain organization will donate.  This will be a national event to see which Trilogy community can raise the most money.  Details of the financial arrangements will be provided in an upcoming press release.  In the meantime, find your walking shoes and get prepared to have fun, connect with your community, and  WALK WITH A PURPOSE!

 What's next? The Palm Desert Half Marathon and 5k  is February 18, 2024. There is a fee for this event but you get a cool finisher's metal, an official race t-shirt, post-race snacks, a racing bib with official chip timing, and one free beer at the beer garden. So, there's all that. Plus, Mackie and I will both be there. We would love to see you there! What a better way to kick off your Half Marathon training than with the 2023 Turkey Trot at Trilogy? Yippee!

5k stands for five kilometers and is the equivalent of 3.1 miles. Therefore, a 10k is 6.2 miles. This event is not a Boston Marathon qualifier.  A marathon, btw, is 26.2 miles. I have run two: the Seattle Marathon in 2001 and the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon in 2002. Back then, the Seattle Marathon was held in November which is typically cool, overcast, and drizzly. The year I did it was two months after 9/11. It felt like a scary time to assemble 10,000 people downtown and to send them running on a floating bridge that connects Seattle to its eastern suburbs. I wore a windbreaker and a baseball cap. My hair was in a ponytail that was pulled through the opening in the back of the cap and through my hair, I threaded the stem of a little American flag - of the kind you might wave at a Fourth of July parade. A photographer noticed and snapped my picture and the image of the back of my head with a flag in my ponytail was made part of the promotional materials the following year. By that

It's the grand finale of Gait-to-Gate. It's the celebration of all the steps we've taken in the month of November. It's in recognition of our personal fitness goals. If you are walking three miles consistently, why not set a goal to run the 5k? Or, at least try with a run/jog/walk? (See? There are some of those extra forward slashes I had lying around.) If you feel comfortable walking three miles, maybe set a goal to walk the 10k. Or, if you haven't been on any of the walks in November, consider getting out there on the 25th and doing what you can. It's never too late to get started.

 If your goal is to walk or run a half marathon, you need to start with a training plan to build up to it. There are several resources available on the internet as well as apps available for download. This is the website I used when I set a goal to walk a half marathon: 10-Week Half Marathon Training Schedule .  Note that if you don't have ten weeks to get ready, you can select a different timeframe by clicking on "Training Plans" at the top of that page. Another tip is that any plan can be modified to suit your schedule or ultimate goal. If your goal is to run a 5k, you might check out  A 10-week walk-jog-run plan for complete beginners . I haven't tried this yet but I'm very intrigued by it. I used to be a runner but that was a long time ago! I would love to get back into running but I need a plan to build up to it. Maybe my Turkey Trot goal this year will be running a 5k! Set a goal. Make a plan. Get started!

November 25 What for? Turkey Trot 2023 What is that? Mackenzie and I are trying to create a culminating event for Gait-to Gate month (November). What are the details? Honestly, it's currently just an idea. Maybe it's a 5k Walk/Run. Or a 10k. Maybe it's a Half Marathon! After all, Gait-to-Gate is all about setting personal walking goals. Why not set a new goal to run a mile or to walk further than you ever have before? Why? Fair question! I set a personal goal earlier this year to walk a half marathon and I accomplished that goal on May 2 in 3 hours and 20 minutes. And, I did it entirely within Trilogy at the Polo Club utilizing as many of the trails as possible. The route looked like this. Whether we try to do a community event that involves a Half Marathon remains to be seen but for anyone who's interested in doing that, the time to start training is now. There are only 10 weeks between now and November 25. In the meantime, the event itself will take shape and deta