Last week I was on a road trip with my family to explore the coast along southern California. We drove down along Highway 1, spent a couple of days in Santa Barbara and worked our way down to Dana Point. Before we left I looked for turkey trot runs around Santa Barbara and found the Thanksgiving 4-miler turkey trot organized by RunSantaBarbara. We decided to show up at the starting line (as did 659 other runners!) on Thanksgiving day to register for the turkey trot.

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 4-miler

We got to the race around 8:15, parked and registered for the turkey trot. My kids were super excited and I decided to stick with my 10yo while my 12yo wanted to actually race. Kept telling him to pace himself so he doesn’t burn out at the end of mile 1. This was their first race, so to speak and were super excited about running the loop with other runners. The weather was just perfect with a little overcast and high 60’s. Some questions and comments from them below that made me laugh with pride. Wonder where they get these?

Dad, Is there an aid station?

What’s the elevation profile for the 4-miler Dad?

I wish there are tons of downhills on this run

Is it a loop or point to point?

I think I’ll run a 8 minute/mile and sprint to the finish

Dad, did you bring any gels?

Do you think I can finish first in my age group?













They were intently watching the race director make the announcements and we took off at 8am. I lost sight of my 12yo pretty quickly and just jogged with my 10yo. My wife was walking the 4 miles and soon she was behind us. He was running pretty fast and decided to take a break at the first mile marker. We walked for a bit, chatted about the race and resumed again. Kept asking for his pace and wondered where his brother was. We walked and ran, walked and ran. It was fun to sprint on the one and only downhill and I couldn’t help notice that our strides were synchronized on the way down. We sprinted the last 100 yards and he beat me to the finish line in 37 minutes while his brother was so proud to have run a sub 30 minute 4 miles to finish 4th in his age group! After they loaded up on donuts and coconut juice, we walked in the reverse direction to catch up with my wife and walked together to the finish line. Perfect way to start Thanksgiving.

Have you run a turkey trot with your kids?

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