DUBLIN, Ohio — Some will be running for first place, others so they can eat a second plate. It’s running season in central Ohio and quite a few people have made a tradition of taking part in a race before their Thanksgiving feast.
The Flying Feather 4-miler and the Kids Gobbler Chase returned to Dublin for its 18th year. It's benefiting the non-profit 2nd and 7 Foundation to promote literacy and positive role models for young athletes.
“Up here in Dublin, we run and walk four miles… a lot of families come out a lot of multi-generational folks are out there,” said Race Director David Babner from M3S Sports. “It's not about competition. It's all about participation and celebration.”
There are many other runs happening on Thanksgiving morning.
The Columbus Turkey Trot is at 9 a.m. benefiting Easterseals. The Columbus Hungry Turkey Trot 5K, 10k and 1/3 marathon is at 9:15 a.m., and the St. Alban's Bexley turkey trot for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank is at 8:30 a.m.
Dr. Ben Bring, a physician in family and sports medicine at OhioHealth, said you need to make sure your body is ready for any run.
“Your hip stabilizers, any type of squats, lunges, things like that, really where you can build a really strong lower extremity base for you. That's going to make you a much better runner,” said Bring. “This is also ankle fracture season with the ice and snow that can come. Be very careful if you're out running, try to minimize the mileage that you're doing on slick and icy surfaces as the weather starts to change .”
Bring gave advice for those planning on running cold turkey on Thursday morning. It starts with eating right the night before and making sure your carbo-loading is helping you and not hurting you.
“Staying away from... the full-fledged fast food the hamburgers, fries, anything that's processed can be kind of dangerous.” said Bring. “Try and avoid eating you know the full Alfredo dinner the night before, maybe do like about halfway of a good pasta dinner is the way to go.”
Bring said you need to stay hydrated and avoid alcohol. He also says to make sure to warm up for any activity, flag football, or pickleball to avoid serious injuries.