Hungry Turkey 5K Recap

Bright and early on Thanksgiving Day, I drove downtown to run the Hungry Turkey 5K.  The St. Louis area has many turkey trots, but this was the earliest and it is immediately followed by the St. Louis Thanksgiving Day parade.  The weather was warm for the end of November and the course took us through downtown, into the shadow of the Arch, onto the Eads Bridge, and back again.  Packet pick-up was available on Tuesday at the Big River Running store in University City, but I arrived at 6:45 a.m. to pick mine up on race day.  As the start of the race drew nearer, the pick-up line grew longer, so my recommendation is to pick up in store or earlier race day.  As a result of the long pick-up line, the race started late (it was supposed to start at 7:30 a.m.).  At the start line, the announcer told us that if the 5K takes you longer than an hour, you will be re-routed off the original course because the parade begins at 8:45 a.m. on the same street as the start/finish line.

Overall, I really enjoyed this race.  The course was scenic, the t-shirts were unique and soft, parking was a breeze and only $5 (pre-race emails gave great instructions on where to park and how much it would cost), and I hear the parade is pretty spectacular even though I did not stay for it this year.  Hopefully your turkey trots and Thanksgivings were equally great.  Happy Holidays!!!

The start/finish line at dawn

The super-soft, long-sleeved baseball t-shirt