Families run together during Thanksgiving tradition
THRU THE WOODS
Women, men and children participated in the 28th annual YMCA Run Thru the Woods early Thanksgiving morning. From 5-year-olds to 82-year-olds, entire families came out to run, walk and support each other.
A local tradition, the run has supported local non-profits with the goal of strengthening The Woodlands, Spring and Oak Ridge communities for 27 years. Net proceeds benefit local non-profits and their missions including Operation Graduation Oak Ridge High School, CISD Key Clubs, CISD Air Force Junior ROTC Programs, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Children’s Education Outreach and YMCA Annual Campaign. A food drive also was held to benefit Can-nKeys Christian Food Bank.
Many of the participants ran or walked with family members, and a large audience lined the sides of the race pathway to cheer on their friends and family. The event consisted of a 3-mile run, 5-mile run, 3-mile walk, 1-mile Kids Race and 1-mile walk/run, as well as a complementary breakfast.
Peggy Yetman, 49, was the first female finisher in the 5-mile race. Coming across the finish line she said “it felt good.”
Yetman has been running since she was a teenager in gymnastics and began to race competitively in college. This was her first year for the YMCA Run Thru the Woods, but she has run competitive-
ly in Virginia and other states, and even in Canada. Six weeks ago, Yetman raced in the Ironman Triathlon World Championships, a competition consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile run, raced in that order and without a break.
“I’m just trying to start to get some speed back in my legs after all that endurance training,” she said. “[I] did a 5k with my son. It was the first one — he’s 15 — it was the first time he finally beat me in a 5k on [Nov. 18].”
The pair both ran in the YMCA Run Thru the Woods, and Aiden Yetman came in two places in front of his mom.
“I always liked to run, but I never took it seriously because that was always kinda mom’s thing. So I just one day kinda decided to start my adventure of trying to run in college and trying to be the best I can be,” he said.
“I think there’s big things ahead for him and trying to guide him along a little bit. He has some good mentors at school,” Peggy added.
Jennifer Drew, who participated in the 3-mile race with her son, said they ran because it’s tradition. This is her sixth year to compete in the run.
“We always like to run. It’s a tradition and we like to give back to the Y, and it’s something fun to do to earn your turkey,” she said.
The awards ceremony began at 9:30 a.m. with the Kids 1-Mile Race results announced first. Categories included overall female and overall male for each race as well as female and male age groups. As the event concluded, runners and supporters alike filtered out toward their vehicles to go spend time with family and have a well-deserved meal.
— Patricia Dillon is a features reporter for The Woodlands Villager. Contact her at her office 713-362-4433 or on Twitter: @Dillon_Villager.