Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot In Dallas

Two Dallas Thanksgiving traditions take place tomorrow. I may participate in one of them, that being the Turkey Trot. The other tradition is the Dallas Cowboys always play a Thanksgiving Day Football Game.

Tomorrow Dallas is going to try and beat the Oakland Raiders in Arlington. Dallas never plays football in Dallas, which means Dallas never plays a home game. Dallas played football in Arlington this past Sunday. Tony Romo was slightly hurt. Four days is not much recovery time between games. Or so I would think.

Tomorrow's Turkey Trot in Dallas started way back on Thanksgiving of 1968. I believe that the original race ran from White Rock Lake to downtown Dallas. The current version of the Turkey Trot starts downtown at the Dallas City Hall and runs an 8K or 5K route in the downtown zone. Why the run is not around White Rock Lake, I do not know.

Back in 1968, in Dallas, there were few runners, that fad had not hit this part of the country yet. Now, 41 years later, the Turkey Trot, officially known by its sponsor's names as the Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot, is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, race of its sort in America.

Over 37,000 runners, 15,000 spectators and 2,000 volunteers will be joining me at the Turkey Trot.

Running should work up a good appetite for a big feeding of turkey and other goodies tomorrow. See you in Dallas.
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4 comments:

  1. cd0103November 25, 2009 at 9:52 AM

    Not as big or exciting, but FW has it's own version.

    http://www.fwtrot.org/

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  2. DurangoNovember 25, 2009 at 10:15 AM

    Thanks for the info cd0103. Maybe I'll do my Turkey Trotting in Fort Worth instead of driving all the way to Dallas.

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  3. AnonymousNovember 25, 2009 at 11:20 AM

    The origination of the Turkey Trot was in Cuero, Texas - but you know that.

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  4. DurangoNovember 25, 2009 at 11:37 AM

    Thanks CB-----
    Yesterday I got email from Barry CB Martin with info about TurkeyFest and the Turkey Trot in Cuero. I'll see if I can copy and paste the Barry email...

    Not sure if you are up-to-speed on this 'only in Texas' event

    TurkeyFest - Cuero ("rawhide") Texas was known for cattle drives until a turkey dressing house opened and drovers walked the big birds into town each fall. In 1912 the event became a tourist attraction know as the Turkey Trot. The parade of poultry was replaced by a turkey race in 1972.

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