With the holiday season comes good food and good runs. This year several Shadow Ridge students took place in a Turkey Trot 5k at James Regional Park on Thanksgiving morning. This race was put on by the Red Rock Running Company whose owner/founder, Coach Mark Jimenez also happens to be a cross country coach for Shadow Ridge. The Red Rock Running Company puts on all sorts of themed runs, many of which are coming soon like the ugly sweater run, the Santa run, and the leprechaun run.
Senior and member of the cross country team, Maya Garay, participated in the Turkey Trot along with several of her friends.
“My teammate, Ruby Stewart, and I, and my friend Chance Mayhew ran, while Carson Wetzel and Justin Rawe led the groups of 5K and 10K,” Garay says.
The Turkey Trot was also a wonderful experience full of welcoming families which created a fun environment.
Garay says, “There was a great turnout, a bunch of families and kids and dogs too! My friends and I had a good time. I, however, forgot my running shoes and had to run in crocs (still beat them) but otherwise it was great!”
Senior Chance Mayhew who participated in the run also found the run to be an amazing experience.
Mayhew says, “The run went amazing, it was so beautiful and everyone was so kind.”
Turkey Trots are also known for their amazing outfits, however from the Shadow Ridge crew they decided to rock their Mustang spirit.
“There were no creative fits unfortunately, however, I rocked the crocs and Ruby and I matched our XC headbands,” Garay says.
Obviously this run was a walk in the park for Shadow’s amazing cross country runners so for them they went to have a good time.
“Ruby and I run cross country so we’re already used to 5K and competitive long distance races. This was just for fun though so we had a good time and it was much more light-hearted,” says Garay.
However there were some amazing cross country athletes, they also got their non cross country friends to participate as well.
“My friend Maya convinced me, I’ve been training and wanted to see if I could do it. I saw Maya, Carson, and Ruby all on track or cross country,” says Mayhew
For Mayhew, he did have some experience running, however this was a great first look into running distance.
Mayhew says, “I told myself “I got that’ and I did, I’ve been doing a lot of mile sprints so I think that helped me go the extra distance. But beforehand I’d never run more than 1 mile.”
The finish line was also a reward as all the runners were greeted with a delicious dessert at the end of the race.
“There was pumpkin pie at the finish so we all indulged in that. My friend Chance went to a couple of Thanksgiving dinners so he ATE for sure,” Garay shares.
