Burn the Turkey
The Wire, November 24, 2004
Thanksgiving dinner is absolutely my favorite meal. I look forward to it all year long and even seek out cheap imitations from time to time. I know of a little deli/store just south of Camden, Maine, that makes a great Thanksgiving turkey sandwich—kind of a Thanksgiving-leftovers extraordinaire, with thick chunks of turkey meat, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and stuffing.
My favorite way to eat Thanksgiving dinner is to starve myself for as long as possible and then dive head first into an orgy of tastes and smells.
The downside to all this, of course, comes in the form of calories, tryptophan and family stress. A full Thanksgiving dinner (at least the way I eat it) runs in the neighborhood of 100-plus grams of fat and 2,000-2,500 calories, and if you can manage to gorge yourself on a full pound or more of turkey along with all those carbohydrates, the resulting shock to your system could cause you to sit on a couch watching college football games or the Freaky Friday movie marathon for a full day.
You could cut back on your caloric intake on Thanksgiving or skip the meal all together, but I can’t advocate that. You could buy yourself a Jones Soda Co. Holiday Pack (a five-pack of soda bottles in the assorted flavors of Turkey & Gravy, Cranberry, Mashed Potato & Butter, Green Bean Casserole and Fruitcake—see for yourself at www.jonessoda.com). It may reassure you to know that it has “no carbs, no calories, and no caffeine!” But, you’ll most likely spend your post-“eating” hours peeing and wondering why you just drank a sugarless bottle of mashed-potato-and-butter-flavored soda.
No, I recommend something entirely different. Go ahead. Eat your Thanksgiving feast. It’s our right as big, fat Americans. Just get outside and do something afterwards (or beforehand). There are a number of calorie-burning events you can participate in during the long holiday weekend, and I’m not talking about speed walking around the Newington Mall or the Kittery Outlets. From mountain biking to running, one of these turkey-recovery programs must suit your fancy. According to the number crunchers here at The Wire, it’ll only take you about 4-7 hours of aerobic exercise to work off that feast you just consumed.
Sidebar: Thanksgiving Weekend Events
>>thursday
15th Annual Turkey Trot
3.1-mile cross-country run/walk
where: Maudslay State Park, Curzon Mill Road, Newburyport, Mass.
registration: 7–7:30 a.m., race starts at 8:20 a.m.
contact: John Wile, 978-388-5383, turkeytrot@xenia.unh.eduFreefall 10K/5K
where: Spaulding High School, 130 Wakefield St., Rochester
registration: $5; race starts at 8 a.m.
note: 10K course is unchanged from last year; 5K course is slightly uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back.
contact: Craig Stephan, 603-749-7820, stephan@enterasys.com>>friday
Turkey Burner Fun Ride
mountain biking
where: Lake Massabesic Front Park, Manchester—Exit 1 off of Route 101, follow green EFTA arrows to start area
registration: 8:15–9:30 a.m., start riding by 10 a.m.
$5 EFTA, NEMBA or FOMBA members, $8 otherwise
note: 12 miles of mostly rolling, wide-open fire roads, and 10 miles of twisty, turny, fun singletrack trails.
contact: Jack or Barbara, 603-483-2951, jack@fomba.com>>saturday
Turkey Trot
5k road run
where: Village Elementary School,
York Street, York
registration: $12 pre-registration, $15 day of race, event starts at 11 a.m.
contact: York Parks and Recreation Dept.,
207-363-1040, rcogger@yorkmaine.orgRunner’s Alley Weekly Group Run
All levels group run leaves store Saturday
mornings at 8 a.m., 4–8 miles
104 Congress St., Portsmouth
contact: 603-430-1212>>sunday
Live Free and Ride Cyclocross Race
Nine categories race from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
where:University of New Hampshire Campus, Durham—take Whittemore Center exit off Route 4 and follow signs
registration: $15–$23; closes 15 minutes before each race
contact: Brain Keegan or Denise Monahan,
603-862-2038, btkeegan@cisunix.unh.edu or
dmonahan@cisunix.eduSkiing/Snowboarding:
And don’t forget skiing or snowboarding. Bretton Woods, Sunday River and Killington are all open for business. At press time, Loon and Waterville Valley were scheduled to open on Saturday, Nov. 20, and Attitash, Cannon, Mt. Sunapee and Wildcat are aiming for Saturday, Nov. 26.
