RUN!!! Or Walk: A Thanksgiving Tradition

It was a cold New England morning, maybe around 5 or 5:30 AM. I was up because I’m always up at that time. And, the time was on my mind. I knew that shortly the womenfolk and children would awake, start making noise, and then head down to Main Street a little after 7. They did. And, per my sad usual habit, I merely saw them off. Yes, I shared a parting Mimosa and gifted a gruff “get out of here!” but I had missed another one. I missed all of them. Every year.

Just today (today being Sunday, the 24th), I was reminded by the Andover Townsman that Thursday plays host to the 32nd Annual Feaster Five Road Race in Andover. The Townsman warns: “It’s that time of year, when certain Thanksgiving guests arrive with a boxed Table Talk apple pie and a hearty appetite. They’re hungry after a long run.” Yep, it’s the same race and pie scene Big Tom dodged in chapter twelve of THE SUBSTITUTE. I’m not sure about him, but I almost wish I had ventured out for just one.

The Race Home Site proclaims, honestly: “The Feaster Five Thanksgiving Day Road Race in Andover, MA has been a Merrimack Valley tradition since 1988. At 10,000 participants, it is one of the largest races in Massachusetts and one of the largest Thanksgiving day races in New England.”

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READ THE WHOLE THING AT TPC