One of the much beloved holidays is Thanksgiving and it’s just around the corner. It started out as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest year. There are a lot of age-old traditions associated with this holiday while there have been some modern additions.
Running the turkey trots is one of the most popular traditions of turkey day. Just like the holiday, every tradition in it also has some significance and a story behind it. So let’s try and find out how turkey trots started and what it actually is.
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What Is A Turkey Trots?
Running for Turkey trots is one of the most important traditions of Thanksgiving. For most people, the holiday is spent with family, enjoying food, and giving thanks. Some go the turkey trot way.
Every year on the holiday, thousands of people participate in running races around the country called Turkey Trots. They range from short “fun runs” to full marathons.
Most of these races are 5-10k in length. This race gets its name from the staple food of the holiday dinner, Turkey. It is often called the “oldest consecutively run footrace in North America.”
On average, one can find a race with more than 14,000 runners that stretches to miles in length. A sizable chunk of the population goes to celebrate the holiday in a different way.
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How Did It Become A Thanksgiving Tradition?
Turkey trots started out in 1896 in Buffalo, New York when the local YMCA hosted an 8-kilometer run on Thanksgiving day with only 6 participants.
The race quickly became more popular as the Turkey Trot idea spread across the country. People run in these races in fun animal costumes for hours.
It is often called one of the healthiest thanksgiving traditions as it helps people burn a lot of calories on the holiday. Most costumes are Thanksgiving-related and have people dressed as turkeys and pilgrims.
In recent years, runners have been wearing all kinds of costumes including Christmas-themed costumes, and Halloween costumes, among others.
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