This was my first ever Turkey Trot, and is one that I will do again. This was the 8th annual race and the proceeds go to the Michael Treinen Foundation. In 2007, Michael was a senior in high school and diagnosed with Acute Myleoid Lekemia, passing away within the year. The race was started to fund the foundation. The first race, they raised slightly under $1200. During the pre-race announcement this morning I believe I heard them say they raised almost $40,000! There were just over 1300 finishers this year.

I didn't make the expo and had someone else pick up my packet. For a small town race, the shirt is outstanding. Michael was a sports guy, and the front of the long sleeve black tech shirt has a turkey in a football uniform striking the Heisman pose.

The race started at 9 am but we got to the starting area around 8. The race started and finished on the square in Noblesville, making parking in nearby lots a breeze and an extremely short walking distance to/from the car. People were already out and about when we got there, warming up and listening to music. The crowd seemed rambunctious and ready to go. They changed the course around from what the map showed, as in previous years the start was congested. This year, the start was wide open heading down 9th street for almost a half mile before taking your first turn.

The beginning of the route was fairly bland. The 3k walkers split from the 5k runners fairly early. It went through old Noblesville, where many of the homes are older and in run down shape. The first mile marker was by the cemetery and matched almost perfectly to my Garmin. We took a turn and headed towards Forest Park, with the first (and only) water station being right around mile marker 2 prior to hitting the park. Forest Park is a great family park, and we met back up with the walkers just inside the park. We followed the road around to the south park entrance, hopped on the wooden bridge, ran across the river, and then the file ~.20 miles to the finish line.

I found the mile markers to all be fairly accurate (my garmin finished in 3.08 miles). The first part of the route was so-so, running through the older section, but the second half was much better, especially with the last ~ mile through the park.

The race was timed with the shoe clips. I haven't done a shoe clip race in a few years, so I almost forgot to stop to have them cut it off. The finish area wasn't anything special - they had the basics with water, bananas, and apples. But finishing on the square meant that you could socialize with people after finishing.

The top runners were primarily local high school runners. I believe the top 10 males were all under 18 minutes and the top 10 females all were under 22 minutes.

Traffic was a breeze when leaving, as the main roads to get anywhere were not slowed or stopped (the race went the other direction).

For the money and the location, it was a great race that I will do again and would recommend it especially if you have a family looking to burn a few pre-turkey calories. If you are looking for glamour and larger size, you may want to skip over this one.