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Jeff Dengate, the “runner-in-chief” at Runner’s World magazine, says the popularity of turkey trots over the past few years correlates with an increased interest in races in general and a surge in new runners taking up the sport over the past decade. In Buffalo, the number of participants has doubled in the past 20 years, up from about 6,000 in the mid-1990s. A few years ago, Thanksgiving surpassed the Fourth of July as the most popular day to run a race. That trend is expected to continue this Thanksgiving,” says Rich Harshbarger, the CEO at Running USA, a nonprofit running industry group. “In 2017, there were more than 1 million finishers at over 1,000 events. Think that’s random? Then here’s some interesting news out of Wisconsin: According to an article in Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel this month, the most Googled term in that state last November was “turkey trots.” While Wisconsin is not necessarily a surrogate for the whole country, turkey trots are very much front of mind.

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This year, Michelob Ultra, the 95-calorie beer that has been trying to align itself with fitness culture, announced a promotion: If you post a picture of yourself running a turkey trot on social media and tag it #WillRunForBeer, the brand will send you a coupon for free beer. When a national brand tries to capitalize on something, it’s a probably a good sign that it’s pretty trendy. And really, what’s more American than eating a huge meal and feeling guilty about it? But the races are now about something closer to what the holiday should represent: family and community. A lot of people hope that loping along with a turkey hat on their heads for a few miles will mitigate some of the calories they’ll be consuming a few hours later. The boom in turkey trots is due to a recent surge in interest in running and fitness in general, but of course, we can’t forget that Thanksgiving is all about gluttony. The starting line at the Buffalo Niagara YMCA Turkey Trot. While some races are competitive and offer prize money, most are refreshingly inclusive, require zero training, and are meant to be for fun only. It’s the most popular type of road race in the country and draws the participation of whole families. Turkey trots have become a national tradition on Thanksgiving morning itself, or on the weekends before or after, in communities all over America. (To put this in perspective, about 50,000 ran the NYC Marathon this year.) The trot even has a “quarter-century club,” which includes about 300 people who have been running the race for more than 25 years.īuffalo is far from alone. This year, the Buffalo Turkey Trot celebrates its 123rd anniversary, and 14,000 people will run the sold-out race. The first was in 1896, just three years prior to Coleman bringing ignominy upon the chilly town. Faulkner notes proudly that Buffalo’s 8K race is older than the Boston Marathon. “We are still living with the guilt, both for this and for losing four Super Bowls,” jokes Geoffrey Faulkner, the communications director at the Buffalo Niagara YMCA.įaulkner’s YMCA has the distinction of hosting the oldest continuously running turkey trot in the country, which happens on Thanksgiving morning every year. Officials found out he cheated and subsequently disqualified Buffalo’s team, giving a victory to their rivals from nearby Rochester. According to local lore, he hopped into a wagon and finished that way instead.

One late November day in 1899, John Coleman decided he’d had enough of the race he was running in Buffalo, New York.