Athletes brave cold rain, wind on Thanksgiving

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Don't tell runners they aren't hardy people.

With cold rain and winds up the East Coast from the Carolinas to New England, runners turned out in the thousands on Thanksgiving Day for the annual turkey trots.

Locally, 2,105 soaked runners finished the Virginia Run Turkey Trot 5K in Centreville while another drenched 1,883 runners crossed the finish line at the Bethesda Chevy Chase YMCA Turkey Chase 10K.

At the out-of-town 5K in which I ran, the race director had quite the sense of humor, telling the shivering runners just before the start that they had much to be thankful for, including the weather.

"It could be a foot of snow out here right now," he said into the megaphone.

However, I wasn't thankful that his course was a bit short.

At the same time, the local high school Thanksgiving football game scheduled just two hours later was postponed until yesterday because of monsoon-like weather conditions that were forecasted. Wimps.

That 5K race had more than 1,000 runners and a unique entry fee. If you brought a grocery bag with a least 10 food items, you paid just $5. Or you could just bring $20 to the race. According to the race director, the near 30,000 items donated last year kept an area food bank stocked for six months.

Next on the schedule are the Christmas-themed races.

The Snow Flake 5K is Sunday at 8 a.m. at Hains Point in the District, followed by the 19th Rudolph's Red Nose Run 10K on Dec. 9 at 9 a.m. in Fairfax City.

The Girls on the Run Reindeer Romp 5K is Dec. 9 in the Reston Town Center at 8:30 a.m., followed a day later by the Jingle Bell Jog 8K in Rockville at 9 a.m. and the revived Jingle All the Way 10K at 8 a.m. in West Potomac Park.

The last Christmas race in the area is the Potomac Valley Track Club's Christmas Caper 10K/5K Dec. 16 at 8:30 a.m. at Hains Point, a no-frills, low-cost club event.

Cherry alert -- Mark your calendars for Dec. 11. Online entry for the 2007 Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run is scheduled to open at 10 a.m.

It seems like a long lead time for a race held April 1, 2007, in West Potomac Park, but consider last year, online registration was available for only 25 hours and the mail-in entry limit was reached within five days.

For online registration, go to www.cherryblossom.org. Mail-in entries will be sent in early December and may be returned as soon as they are received. Runners should enter using only one of the two methods.

For the 35th running of the race, organizers plan to give out special mugs for runners who better the 1973 winning times of 51:22 for men and 71:19 for women.

Free clinic -- Chiropractor and triathlete Dr. Bernard Etherly will present a free short course on injury prevention and recovery Thursday at 7 p.m. at Pacers on 3100 Clarendon Boulevard in Arlington, just across from Clarendon Metro Station.

Injuries such as iliotibial band syndrome and plantar fasciitis will be among the topics of discussion.

Visit www.marathoncharitypartners.org/college for the schedule of clinics at Pacers, including two courses in December.