Paul Nicolaides could have remained in Texas this week. He’d run in the Corpus Christi Roadrunners Turkey Classic early Thanksgiving morning. Hang out a bit with the other runners who are his friends. Go home to a Thanksgiving dinner.

Enjoy the mild, 60 to 70-degree Gulf of Mexico weather.

Not this fall. Nicolaides decided to return to his hometown of Gorham for the holiday. He and his Mexican-born wife Lupita entered the Thanksgiving Day Four-Miler in Portland. His welcome home present? Snow from Wednesday’s storm that might be washed away by the rain that may follow.

Nicolaides laughed Tuesday night, already back in Gorham. His wife has little experience with snow. This race could be something new.

Also new will be the top prize, linking the Corpus Christi and Portland races together. Both races are 4 miles. Both are celebrating their 30th running. Both are two loops with some hills. Portland’s hills are a bit steeper but the Texas course has more twists and turns.

Both, when the one-hour time difference is added, start at the same moment: 9 a.m. in Portland; 8 a.m. in Corpus Christi. A suburb of the Texas city is named Portland. There is a Corpus Christi Parish in Maine, although that’s about 90 minutes north of Portland, including Catholic churches in Waterville and Winslow.

Corpus Christi has a Labonte Park, named for winning NASCAR drivers Terry and Bobby Labonte, whose father, Robert, left Mexico, Maine, to raise his family in that Texas city.

Both race directors know how to have a little fun when they promote. George Towle, the University of Southern Maine women’s cross country and track coach and race director of the Thanksgiving Day Four-Miler, noted his race’s 30th anniversary. During an Internet search he found the Corpus Christi race and contacted its race director, Frank Flores.

Can we do anything together to celebrate our races? Flores suggested a challenge race. Compare the overall winning times. Fastest male and fastest female get to feast on the other state’s delicacy. Texas winner gets Maine lobster; Maine winner gets Texas steak.

Paul Nicolaides graduated from Gorham High in 1974 and returned to his high school after college to teach and coach cross country. He coached girls’ basketball with the legendary George Stevenson. Now in his 50s, winning the lobster may be out of reach but that’s OK.

He knows where to get one. Or several.

 

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