Social media traditionally makes a lot of satirical hay about what families face, conversation-wise, at the Thanksgiving table. Mothers pull adult kids aside in humorous videos, telling them off-topic issues, while the peacemakers of a group stick to favorite movies and childhood memories as a matter of noncontroversial course.
Ponder, though, how running together, as a unit, could help create a smoother dinner later in the day, in two ways. One? All of those lovely endorphins can create euphoria, one that you can clutch to throughout the holiday. And two? You can discuss, in detail, the highs and lows of the Turkey Trot you all ran that morning, and voíla: Conversation stays on track, from first course to pumpkin pie.
As far as finding tracks and courses on the morning of Thursday, Nov. 26, your Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving-themed runs around Southern California are plentiful...
Long Beach has a long-running 5K, one that summons people from around SoCal. It's the 13th outing and some "4,000 runners are expected." That's a whole bunch of people working up an appetite a few hours ahead of supper, and those close-to-the-ocean-breezes definitely help in the appetite-stoking department.
Downtown LA has a trot on, too, and this one offers up both a 5K choice and a lengthier course at 10 kilometers. If you forget your turkey hat for the run, fret now: They're for sale there, in both the post-oven version and the barnyard version. The Thanksgiving runs truly might be the only athletic events where more people wear birds on their noggins than baseball or knit caps.
Topanga State Park has some beautiful vistas and rolling hill action, and the three runs on Nov. 26 -- 5K, 10K, and 15K -- will have a bit of all of that good stuff. The scene is Trippet Ranch and the 5K is described as "the fun run," in case that's more your bag.
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has a lot of horsey action happening these days down around Del Mar, but the hooves stop a-flyin' and the tennies start running on Thanksgiving morning at the Family Mile Fun Run. There's also a Thanksgiving Brunch, too, at the track, if you want to chow as well.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
Perhaps, in the end, the wiseacres of social media are only half-right about Thanksgiving table peace-making: Maybe we do all really get along pretty dang well, making for a sweeter holiday in the end.
Pumpkin pie helps, of course, as does some outdoor time, together, at some point of the day, be it a Turkey Trot or a pick-up game in the yard.
