The North Shore Turkey Trot was my first race ever. When I couldn't make the Hot Chocolate 5K, I decided I would see what other races Ram Racing hosted - and when I saw the Turkey Trot was a little closer to home I decided to sign up. My girlfriend and I were doing this together, she'd done a few races before.
While no designated parking - it was rather easy to find a spot in downtown Highland Park, probably had to do with the holiday. We already had our packets and swag due to the convenient packet pickup which was so close to our places of work. We just walked our way to the start corrals.
Having never raced, but attended a few of the ones my girlfriend ran - I wasn't sure what to expect.
There was no party-like atmosphere at the start/finish area, which I somewhat expected for what I'd consider a "fun-run" (even though it is chip-timed). The most/only amusement came from all the costumes. I was somewhat jealous of some of them - as they looked very warm.

The course was rather easy, only a few small hills which I was thankful for on my first race. The most memorable part of the race was the temperature. I don't remember Thanksgiving day being so cold in past years - but then - I'm not usually spending much time outside on Thanksgiving. Having done very little outdoor running, let alone cold weather running - I was very nervous about being too cold or worse - wearing too much and being too hot. Luckily I did some test runs and was overall fairly comfortable once the race started.
Once the race ended, we collected our free apple pies and bottles of water and made our way back to the car. I suppose being a holiday - runners aren't to interested in an "after party", so it was a bit of a personal let down for me to finish my first race and just walk back to the car -- but the pie was good.

Overall, fun race, comfortable hoodie swag (although not my favorite color) and an event I would participate in again.