NEWS

Thanksgiving trot has 300 running off calories before turkey dinner

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 12/2/21

By JOHN HOWELL It was before sunrise on Thanksgiving morning, a clear and a seasonably warm day for this time of year was ahead. While many families up at such an hour made preparations for the big meal later in the day, Tom Sanford, cordless power

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NEWS

Thanksgiving trot has 300 running off calories before turkey dinner

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It was before sunrise on Thanksgiving morning, a clear and a seasonably warm day for this time of year was ahead. While many families up at such an hour made preparations for the big meal later in the day, Tom Sanford, cordless power drill in hand, was perched on a ladder at Warwick City Park.

This is all part of what has become a Thanksgiving tradition that Sanford initiated eight years ago: the Warwick Rotary Club Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot. Sanford has it down to a system. In fact, the screws for hanging the club banner across the face of the pavilion were where they had been two years ago and the year before that. They are stainless screws so they will be there for many trots to come.

Some things can be planned for days, months and even years in advance.

Last year was the outlier. There have been trot days when the weather was outright nasty and the temperature dropped into the teens. That was a fast trot for those who dared. After registering they returned to their cars to wait for Sanford, wearing a turkey hat to rally the diehards and send them on a 5K.

But last year the pandemic froze out runners and walkers – all those thinking of burning off calories to justify eating so much later in the day. Maybe they did the trot by themselves, a neighborhood 5K or on home gym equipment. It was a virtual trot.

This year the in-person trot returned. With a break in the rhythm, Sanford wondered if there would be a turnout. Fewer than 150 registered early, leaving Sanford to wonder if he might have boxes of unspoken for T-shirts. That all changed with the long rays of the morning sun.

People arrived with their kids, their dogs, with cans of food for Westbay Marketplace and wearing costumes. Michelle Farrow wore a green dinosaur outfit, her face appearing from its open jaws.

“It’s really very warm,” she said. Maybe so, but with its tail it didn’t look to be made for running.

Others made their own outfits, the turkey being a popular them.

And then there were the serious runners, in tights and not much more.

Working from a large, color coded sheet, which Lauren Slocum of the Central Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce provided with online registrations, registrants where checked off and given the requested sized T-shirts that club members pulled from boxes. Those who hadn’t pre-registered lucked out on T-shirts with Sanford handing out surpluses from prior years when the 2021 editions were depleted.

Meanwhile, a crew worked on the finish line with Dan Scanlon Sr. setting up the timer and Anthony Bucci assisting to string a line with the finish banner above the path. Cases of bottled water and boxes of snacks were ready for the finishers.

After ten minutes of warm up exercises led by physical therapist Dan Forlasto of Warwick Physical Therapy Institute, the assembly gathered at the starting line to hear Sanford tell of the work of the Rhode Island Medical Reserve Corps whose volunteers have staffed scores of covid testing and vaccination sites since the shutdown in March 2020. Proceeds from the trot will be shared between the corps and the Rotary Club’s charitable efforts. The runners and walkers, some of them jogging in place to stay warm applauded the volunteerism of the Medical Reserve Corps and then without ceremony, Sanford gave the countdown and the assembly was off.

As quickly, Sanford shifted gears disassembling the registration desk and then joining the crew at the finish line. The first runners started crossing the line in 17 minutes. They grabbed bottles of water and caught their breaths before more and more arrived to take a moment and bask in the warm early morning sun before tackling the marathon of Thanksgiving Day preparations ahead.

Thanksgiving, trot, 5k

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