Run for your dinner on T-day

Back when I ran, in the late '70s and '80s in the Denver area, I would begin my Thanksgiving Day with a 10-mile run. Usually, that would entail running five miles out 32nd Street to the Coors Brewery in Golden and back. Most of the folks I knew thought it a very peculiar tradition, especially since the brewery was closed for the holiday.

Curtis Taylor understands, though.

"It's the kind of thing you do to justify jamming your face with turkey," says Taylor.

Taylor knows because this Thanksgiving Day he and the Cardinal Track Club, of which he's president, will enable 600 runners to assuage their guilt over jamming their faces with turkey at the 11th annual Gallop and Gorge, an 8-kilometer run through the streets of Carrboro. It's the finale of the club's three-race Le Tour de Carrboro series, which earlier included the Four on the Fourth in July and last month's Carrboro 10K.

This year's race begins at 8 a.m. from the Fleet Feet store in Carrboro, then takes runners on le tour de Carrboro.

"It's a big five-mile loop," says Taylor. "It goes past Carr Mill Mall, through downtown, through residential areas."

And if you're into swag, you won't walk away from the Gallop and Gorge with another stinkin' (literally) T-shirt.

"Socks," says Taylor, "we're all about running socks."

If Carrboro seems a bit far to drive -- especially at 8 a.m. on a sleep-in-holiday -- for a race, another Thanksgiving morning 8K is closer to Raleigh.

The Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot is in its sixth year, its first in Morrisville after a five-year run in Raleigh. It starts at 9 a.m.

Race director Butch Robertson says the event draws from 650 to 900 runners. Most are in the 8K event, but about 75 do the 1-mile fun run and 25 to 30 children will do the Kid's Dash.

"I love the atmosphere of a holiday race," says Robertson. "Everyone is in such a casual, relaxed mood. We get a lot of families and family members from out of town participating."

Casual ... relaxed -- sounds like a good opportunity for someone who hasn't been running a lot? Or at all?

"It's not something for someone completely out of shape," says Taylor. "You could show up and jog and walk it. We have people who do that."

Granted, two weeks isn't a lot of time to train for a 5-mile race if you haven't been running much, or at all. If you haven't been running at all, the obligatory fine print says you'd be wise to consult a physician first. If you've been somewhat active, start doing a combination of jogging and walking to ease yourself into shape. You probably won't be able to run the full five by Thanksgiving, but, given the festive, supportive atmosphere of a race, adrenaline will probably carry you farther than you think.

If you need added incentive, consider: According to the American Council on Exercise, about 3,000 calories are consumed during the typical Thanksgiving meal. Throw in daylong grazing and ACE says total calorie consumption hits 4,500 (some estimates place it as high as 5,000 to 6,000 calories). Say you jog/walk a five-mile race at a leisurely pace of 15 minutes per mile. According to the fitness calculator at www.runtheplanet.com, you'll burn 669 calories. That's nearly two slices of pecan pie.

Happy training.