In November in the United States, no runner can avoid knowing there’s at least one turkey-themed footrace being held somewhere nearby. According to Runner’s World magazine, the first Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot took place in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1896, a year before the first Boston Marathon, and by 2015 Thanksgiving had displaced July 4th as the most popular day in the year for a race. That Buffalo event has continued every year, and others like it have proliferated from Miami to Anchorage.
When it comes to this great holiday, the running community naturally likes to expand the festivities to include the weekends before and after the big tryptophan-laden Thursday. A brand new local example this year is the Roadtown Turkey Trot, a Thanksgiving-themed 5K run (or walk, as you choose) in Shutesbury on Saturday, Nov. 18. The race starts in the center of town and follows a course south, west and north to finish at Shutesbury Elementary School on West Pelham Road. Much of the course is unpaved. Lovely scenery, plenty of trees giving you oxygen and taking in the CO2 you exhale.
“Roadtown” was the original name for Shutesbury. Easy enough: it was the town on the road – one of the roads, anyway – from Boston to Albany. The big news about this race is that it’s a fundraiser for the new Shutesbury library, a beautiful and long-overdue resource for the community. As race organizer Samantha Spisiak noted this week, “We plan to break ground next year, and we’re in the final stretch of our fundraising.”
The race will award Shutesbury mugs to winners of each age group from 14-and-under to 90-and-over. (You read that right.) Meanwhile, no matter how fast or slow you are, you may win one of the door prizes provided by various local businesses. Information and signup (runsignup.com/Race/MA/Shutesbury/RoadtownTurkeyTrot5k). Park and pick up your number at the elementary school. The race starts at 9 a.m. A kids fun run follows at 9:15.
The oldest actual Thanksgiving Day race in this part of New England is the Manchester (Conn.) Road Race, founded in 1927. If you want the experience of standing at the starting line with 10,000 other runners and then making your way around a 4.748-mile course with as many spectators per mile as you’d find on Patriots’ Day in Boston, by all means run in Manchester.
Just two warnings about this delightful event: One, get there early. Manchester is normally an hour’s drive from Northampton, but allow extra time on Thanksgiving, because traffic may get thick as you reach the exit ramp from I-384, and Main Street in Manchester will be closed. According to the race web site, the best place to park is probably Manchester Community College. Shuttles will take runners and spectators from there to the race venue at no charge.
Two, don’t expect to actually run for the first half mile. Unless you are an invited elite runner or can somehow sneak to the front (don’t try), when the gun goes off you might as well just walk for a while. Save yourself the hassle of trying to get around or through the mob of your fellow runners, many of whom will be wearing costumes. This is a party first, a foot race second. The year I ran it, I covered each successive mile at least a minute faster than the one before it, as more space opened up. The race starts at 10 a.m., and by arriving early you’ll have time to relax, enjoy the spectacle and be thankful. Information and registration is available online (manchesterroadrace.com).
The holiday festivities continue on Saturday, Nov. 25, when the Holyoke Elks club presents the annual Talking Turkey 6-mile race. Now in its 44th year, the Talking Turkey offers an exceptionally scenic course around Ashley Reservoir. The line of runners is magazine-ad picturesque as everyone runs alongside the water on a dirt-and-gravel jeep track under towering pines.
Parts of the two-loop course are on narrow dikes that separate sections of the reservoir, and the two loops are not identical. Where the dikes intersect, the race’s second loop crosses the first one. A few spectators stand here so they can see the runners come past at about three miles and then pass again in a different direction as they approach the finish. The crowd is festive, the post-race food and drink is ample.
Registration and further information can be found online (empireonerunningclub.org).
John Stifler has taught writing and economics at UMass and has written extensively for running magazines and newspapers. He can be reached at jstifler@umass.edu