We all know Thanksgiving Day runs are mostly for fun and for a good cause. If you're looking for a nice stroll through San Diego (Balboa Park area) this race is for you. Or I should say, then sign up for the untimed race. I didn't realize there is basically a runner start line and a walker start line. The runners start 5 minutes before the walkers - or at least they are supposed to.

I signed up last minute and didn't care to be timed. Once I got to the race I realized most of the runners choose to be timed, if you're not timed you start with the "fun run" group. I was at the front of the line and had quite a lot of people squeeze in, in front of me. One lady said sorry because she realized that isn't really the polite thing to do, especially when you have a lot of kids and are walking. But I thought, whatever, I can run around them at the start.

This race was VERY unorganized. People were still trying to line up as the race was starting. I contribute that in part to being able to register until 8am even though the races started at 7:35 and 7:40am. Once the timed runners went our wave was supposed to go 5 minutes after them, which most of us did. However there were a lot of walkers that were lined up along the street in front of the start line that just started walking after the first wave went. I thought this was rude. Races start in waves for a reason, number one is safety. While I was in the "fun run" wave, some of us still wanted to run and not have to doge walkers but unfortunately that is what we had to do. Luckily it wasn't hard to do, even with the large amount of walkers and people running/walking with their dogs. I don't think I have ever been to a race with so many dogs! Which is cute and all, but if you can't control you dog around a lot of people, maybe leave them at home.

The course was very beautiful, it was around Balboa Park, so how could it not be? Volunteers were good, but people were running outside the cones and none of the people regulating the course said anything. Again, cones are set up for a reason - safety. I just got the feeling during the whole race it wasn't very well organized. If you want to run this race I would recommend signing up for the timed race. That seems to be the best way to get out of the crowds of walkers and dogs.

Post race they had music, food and beer. I finished a little after 8am so beer did not sound good. Champagne would have been a better choice, or mimosas! They also had vendors in the post run area. It was a nice way to spend time post race, but I never really participate in post race activities. Even though my experience wasn't great, this race is for a good cause so I was happy to have run it and helped contribute to and give back to others.