Running for the second half of my life: November 26, 2015: The Bay Area Turkey Run 10K

Goal C: To better last year's time of 55:59.9

Goal B: To celebrate Thanksgiving holiday with family

Goal A: To celebrate my mother's birthday

In the United States, the fourth Thursday in November is Thanksgiving Day. We usually get together with my mother and other family members, not only because of the holiday but also because Thanksgiving always falls near her birthday. This year Thanksgiving actually falls on Mom's birthday, and we're celebrating a round-numbered year as well. She is a role model for me in so many ways, including taking good care of her health, although she probably has a bit of luck with genes as well. I've inherited her genes for hair color and I think that I look a lot like my maternal grandfather - other than the male pattern baldness that I inherited from my own father - and hopefully I've inherited her healthy genes as well!

My aunt prepared a delicious applesauce cake for her sister's birthday!

In this time when the plight of refugees is in the news, I think of my Mom's family at the end of World War II. My grandparents were born in the first decade of the twentieth century in the Austrian Empire. After World War I, their region became part of the new country of Yugoslavia. As ethnic Austrians, they were in the minority, but became Yugoslav citizens, and my grandfather even served in the Yugoslav army during peacetime in the mid-1920's. That may have saved them when civil war came to Yugoslavia in the early 1940's, sparked by the anarchy of the German-Italian invasion and occupation. In approximately 1943, a group of Partisan soldiers demanded entry into their home in Sarajevo, but the group's commander ordered the soldiers to leave after he realized that my grandfather had served in the Yugoslav army. However, my grandparents felt that the next group might not spare them, so they decided to leave to join relatives in Austria, only to be picked up by the German army and sent to a labor camp, as they weren't officially Austrian citizens.

Family photo from ca. 1948, from left-to-right:
My mother, Cecilie Kefer; my grandfather, Rudolf Kefer;
my grandmother, Elizabeth Zamola Kefer; and my aunt, Mira Kefer.
They sat for this photo to send to great-uncle Ed Zamola,
when they wrote asking him to sponsor them for immigration
to the United States.

They were fortunate to survive the war, but found themselves among millions of other displaced persons when the war in Europe ended in May 1945. My mother was only 9 years old. Although the Yalta agreement required displaced persons to return to their countries of origin, some of the first groups of non-Slavic people to return to Yugoslavia were murdered shortly after crossing the border, so my mother's family desperately needed to stay out of Yugoslavia, even though they were living in Austria as undocumented aliens. They were spared when Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of the U.S. president, gave a speech at the new United Nations in 1945, insisting that the victorious Allies must not demand the return of displaced persons if their lives might be in danger. My grandparents, my mother, and her older sister lived discreetly in Linz, Austria while they tried to find a country that might accept them. It turns out that my grandmother's older brother, great-uncle Ed Zamola, had come to the United States in the early 1900's, under dubious circumstances, possibly without visa. At some point Uncle Ed was offered a path to citizenship, and by the late 1940's, he was eligible to sponsor his younger sister and her family for immigration to the United States. They arrived in Port Arthur, Texas in summer 1950, when my mother was 14 years old. My mother along with her sister and parents proudly became United States citizens after the 5-year waiting period, and built new lives in the country that welcomed them.

Family photo, ca. 1970:
in front center, my mother, Cecilie Kefer McDonald;
on the left, my brother, Will McDonald;
on the right, my father, Frank McDonald Sr.;
and I'm in the back center.

My mother and brother came out early this morning to watch Bonnie and I run the Bay Area Turkey Run, Bonnie running the 5K and me taking on the 10K. My goal was to run faster than last year's time, which was 55:59.9 on a flat course. However, it was relatively warm and quite humid this morning. Even though I grew up accustomed to constant heat and humidity near the Gulf of Mexico coast, I had quickly lost my tolerance after moving away, so I wasn't sure how well I might run today.

Bonnie, me and Mom shortly before the race

It took me awhile to work out some stiffness in my legs but fortunately we arrived early enough for me to warm up thoroughly in the parking lot. After jogging for 15 - 20 minutes, my legs felt good and I was ready to run. The children's 1K race started around 7:30 am, and after they were done, the 5K and 10K runners began together, around 7:45 am. I started a bit too quickly in the first mile (8:02) and slowed down a bit in the subsequent miles (8:22, 8:45, 9:00, 9:17, 9:01), but was able to speed up in the final stretch, and ran my third-best 10K time at 53:59, only 9 seconds slower than my PR.

Goal C: To better last year's time of 55:59.9; Achieved 2 minutes faster!

Goal B: To celebrate Thanksgiving holiday with family; Achieved, with a dozen family members around the dinner table!

Top: sister-in-law Sara Werland McDonald, cousin Rudy Noble, Rudy's father-in-law John Combi,
Christine Combi Noble, Rudy and Christine's son Patrick Noble, cousin Paul Noble,
and uncle Don Noble. Bottom: uncle Don Noble, aunt Mira Kefer Noble, mom Cecilie Kefer McDonald,
me, Bonnie Youn, brother Will McDonald, and sister-in-law Sara Werland McDonald.