Paulette announced just a couple weeks ago that she was going to walk in this year’s Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5K Run/Walk & 10K Run Downtown San Jose Thanksgiving Day. Not only was she going to walk, she was going to walk in costume. Not only was she going to walk in costume, she was was going to enter the costume contest. My initial reaction was, “Who are you, and what have you done with my wife?”
When we first got married, she would have been uncomfortable in that kind of limelight. Years ago she was mortified when I volunteered us for some audience participation at a Renaissance Festival. Nowadays however she’s happy to take center stage. She even appeared in Intel’s “Jeffrey the Robot” Superbowl commercial. Did you see her? She was in the back, behind that tall guy.
She entered the Turkey Trot costume contest dressed as Snooki from MTV’s “Jersey Shore” reality show. Just to be clear, she has never seen the show (she says), I’ve never seen it, and I’m pretty sure if I ever saw it, I would disapprove. It is an awesome pouf wig though and Paulette’s from New Jersey so it’s funny. Plus she was eager to try out the new running skirt she won in a drawing from RunningSkirts.com. Unfortunately the weather dampened the full effect.
It was cold out there. Nearly freezing. We showed up outside HP Pavilion around 6:45AM Thanksgiving morning and it was about 34 degrees. I wasn’t walking; I was just there to cheer and take pictures so I had on four layers of clothing up top, snow pants down below, and ski socks. Paulette originally intended to walk in just the skirt, but when I showed her the forecast she wisely decided to pull some pants on underneath it.
There were some fantastic costumes out there. The two individual winners were a full-body handmade turkey costume and a Donald Duck costume. The group winners were a family dressed as characters from Snow White including a magic mirror in silver face paint. They all won plane tickets on Virgin Atlantic.
The 5K started around 8:15AM and Paulette achieved her goal of finishing the walk in under an hour. After she got warmed up and the feeling returned to her toes, she made great time. Again I’m taking her word for it since once she disappeared into the crowd, I never actually saw her cross the start or finish line on West Santa Clara Street so for all I know she hid her chip-tracking race bib somewhere in Donald Duck’s tail feathers while she cut through Arena Green. Seriously though, I’m quite proud of her and her determination that day. On top of all that she still managed to prepare a delicious Thanksgiving meal for us. What a star!
The race was a thorough success. It was the largest ever in its six-year history with 5,000 people in the 10K, and 10,000 people in the 5K. They broke their fundraising record, generating over $400,000 for Children’s Health Initiative, The Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, and Second Harvest Food Bank. It was a spectacular morning, sunny and clear, every runner an inspiration. The costumes were a fun touch. Sadly Snooki didn’t win, but she can hold her pouf high.