Yesterday’s Flying Feather 4-mile race in Westerville, OH was a lot of fun! There were nearly 2,000 people entered in the event. With two other turkey day races in the Central Ohio area, I can’t believe this one attracted that many entrants!

But then again, the shirts are great (though too big), the medals are very nice, and I got a bottle of white wine. I think that beats out a grey sweatshirt and pumpkin pie for the first 200 finishers. (Even fast walkers never end up with a pie.)

The race started in an exclusive neighborhood with beautiful homes, then wound through one of the prettiest metro parks in the area. It was designed well so that we were on wide streets when we were packed together, and didn’t get into the park and the narrower bike path until everyone had spread out.

There was only one ding for this event — no food at the end! I know, I know — it is a problem for many race directors. But I saw people walking around with bunches of bananas (almost hoarding them), and the bagels and bananas were sitting out before the race. Anyone could have walked over and grabbed food before the race.

Still, this event had a very nice family atmosphere. Many of my walking friends were there with kids, spouses and siblings. Despite no food, it was fun.

So after this race, I drank some water, grabbed my wine and head off to the Tim Horton’s drive thru with a ton of other entrants. (The 12-grain bagel with cream cheese and a steaming hot cup of coffee really hit the spot!)

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