Turkey Trotting

You know you're a runner when you begin to attribute completely obscure ideas to running. For me, this happened when I got into my car this morning to go to work.

I walked up to my car and let out a distasteful sigh while I rolled my eyes because my car was covered in ice. The temps here are getting frigid and it's starting to affect my daily routine of waking up way too late, throwing clothes on, and hopping into my car and just driving off. Now, I have to wake up way too late, throw clothes on, and hop into a frozen carsicle where I have to sit and wait for the defroster to kick in and do it's thang. That took about 10 minutes this morning.

Anyway, I sat there waiting for my car windows to defrost when out of the corner of my eye, I see what I thought was a dog running by. Then, another one goes by. Then another. And another! What the hell... I mean, I know that my apartment complex has this "we welcome all dogs and animals policy", but this was at 7:15 in the morning. I would hardly believe that a pack of dogs would be running through the complex at this hour.

So, I peel my eyes away from my phone where I'm checking my email only to see NOT dogs...but a whole entire herd of turkeys just streaming by! A herd? Is that what their called? A pack? A gaggle? No, that's geese I think. Whatever. A BUTTLOAD of turkeys. And I'm talking...STREAMING by...like, on a mission, or a mecca. Yeah, a mecca. Those turkeys were headed to the promised land of all the most indulgent and richest birdseed they could feast their beaks on.

Now, you might be thinking, "What the hell are turkeys doing running through your apartment complex?!". Unless you're my running partner, who lives in the same complex (SHOUT OUT), I wouldn't expect you to think this was a normal happening. But it is. Sort of. Turkeys live here on the property, so it's totally normal to see them running around and eating and pooping (their poops are just like bird poops...but like, 5 times bigger; fun fact). But I've never seen them like this.

As I'm watching them stream by, I see this one turkey trailing in the back of the buttload. The first thing I notice about this little guy: His left leg swings out as he runs and it sort of makes him do this wobble-run. It was as if he had a knee in his right leg, but not in his left leg. OR it was like he was knock-kneed. It was like watching an oopma-loompa run, except THIS oompa-loompa was the runt of all oompa-loompas and had to try even harder than ALL the other oompa-loompas just to keep up. Poor little guy. THEN I thought, what if I ran like that?

What if what I was watching was the turkey version of a marathong?? You had the strong turkeys in the front. These were the runners who trained hard and were veterens of the sport; or they're the Shalane Flanagans of the sport (look her up, she's AMAZING). Then, you have the turkeys in the middle of the buttload. These runners were good, but not the best, but still held their own. THEN you have the little runty oompa-loompa all the way in the back, desperately struggling to keep up. He was definitely a first-timer.

Watching those turkeys made me think: "What if I'M struggling in the back of the buttload with a knock-kneed leg that swings out during my marathong? What if I just can't keep up?"

Okay, well, those that know me know that I'm obviously physically not like that, but STILL. Self-confidence is everyone's own worst enemy and it's probably number 1 on my list of enemies. Well, that and my mom's white chocolate cheesecake. But more importantly for this blog, my number 1 enemy is self-confidence and this runty back-of the-pack turkey is my metaphorical self-confidence.

If I don't have the self-confidence to just KNOW that I can do this, then I'll never be able to finish. I just have to accept the fact that I'm NOT Shalane Flanagan (look her up, she's AMAZING), I'm not even middle-buttload worthy. I'm just me and I'm just running because I can. Finishing a marathong is something that not a lot of people do in their lifetime, and hell, it's my first one, so I'll PR for SURE! (Personal Record aka best time ever)