NOW BRING ON THE BIRD

350 participants help usher in spirit of the holidays

Somer Breeze-Hanson / Northwest Guardian

To get in the spirit of the holidays, Malia Bush thought it would be fun to compete in a Turkey Trot race with her boyfriend, Chris Crawford.

Crawford had never run a 5K race before and received very little notice.

“She tricked me,” Crawford said. “Friday night she said I signed you up for a 5K.”

Bush and Crawford joined about 350 other runners between Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Cowan and Memorial stadiums for the annual November run. Runners wore beanies, earmuffs and scarves as the temperature barely reached 30 degrees.

Runners chose between the 5K or 10K course, while about 10 people raced in their inline skates.

As runners gathered at the start line, JBLM Intramural Sports Coordinator Kathy Salcedo briefed that it was a flat, fast course. Sixteen-year-old Wesley Fueston, a cross country runner at White River High School, proved Salcedo’s statement true. Fueston sprinted the 5K race from the word go and crossed the finish line in 16 minutes, 35 seconds.

“At state cross country it’s all hills,” Fueston said. “If we can sprint that the whole time, we can sprint this.”

Right behind him was his cross country teammate Jordan Cook at 16:57.

“My plan was to just stick with him,” Cook said.

Members of the 2011 JBLM Army Ten-Miler team competed in the 10K race, led by Shannon Swords’ second place overall finish in 35:17.

Fifteen-year-old Alexander Mueller finished first overall in 30:31. The top three placers in each age division took home Cornish game hens as their trophies.

Not everyone was a conditioned competitive runner.

Denise Haigh-Boone and her husband, Aaron Boone, started the 10K race together and crossed the finish line holding hands. The couple ran the Turkey Trot last year because it’s something they can do together.

“She’s my reason to come out and I’m her reason to keep going,” Aaron Boone said.

Not only did the Boones leave with a sense of accomplishment, they also went home with a turkey they won as a door prize. While they’re not cooking Thanksgiving dinner, Denise Haigh-Boone was going to let her cousin know she didn’t have to buy a turkey. About 10 turkeys were given out as prizes.

Fifty-one-year-old Craig Daly won the inline 10K race in 24:30. Daly, who is 6-foot-6, towered at nearly 6-11 on his rollerblades.

Doug Woolen was the oldest competitor at 71. He finished first in his age division, and 18th overall.

The final race of 2011 is the Reindeer Dash Dec. 10.