This is the kit for the Turkey Trot, the Thanksgiving Day road race. RunSignup counted 1,330,726 people registered for 1,056 races on its platform on Thanksgiving Day 2025, and 91 percent of those races had a 5K. It takes two of them. One is the Phoenix Turkey Trot 5K at Wesley Bolin Plaza, across from the Arizona State Capitol. The other is the YMCA Turkey Trot in Buffalo, an 8K that first ran in 1896 and calls itself the oldest consecutively run footrace in the world.
The thesis is that a Turkey Trot is short, early, crowded, and cold at the start, so the kit is fast and light, warm for the corral, and easy to spot. A hot-pink Saucony Endorphin Speed 5. Balega Ultralight socks, Tracksmith Twilight Split Shorts in Cabernet, and a Tracksmith Harrier merino long sleeve. Brooks gloves that flip into mittens, a Skida headband for your ears, RaceDots so the bib goes on without pins, and a SPIbelt for the phone and car key. Cinnamon Run Gum in the corral, Tifosi Swank sunglasses, a Sun Bum face stick, and Kane Revive slip-ons for the walk back. On the wrist, a Garmin Forerunner 170 for the splits and a Q Timex Chronograph you start at the gun.
Note.
Confirm current pricing at the retailer. Phoenix Turkey Trot entries are not refundable, deferrals close November 15, and the race FAQ says there is no race-day registration. Buffalo entries are non-refundable and capped at 14,000, and the YMCA asks you to arrive at least an hour early. Strollers are welcome at the back in Phoenix and strongly discouraged in Buffalo. Dogs are strongly discouraged in Phoenix and not permitted in Buffalo. If you have a pacemaker, ask your doctor before you use bib magnets.
Runner’s World · Nov 25, 2025
Six started. Four finished.
“It’s a crazy day between the costumes and the running and the shenanigans.”
Runner’s World — How the Turkey Trot Became the Most Popular Race in America (Jenny McCoy), quoting Buffalo’s Geoffrey Falkner
Jenny McCoy’s history starts in Buffalo in 1896, when the local YMCA held an 8K cross-country race on Thanksgiving Day. Six runners started and four finished. One dropped out after two miles, and another when his “late breakfast refused to keep in its proper place.” The winner, Henry A. Allison, ran 31:12. The race has been held every year since, including 2020, when the in-person field was 125 runners chosen at random, one for each year of the race. McCoy dates Thanksgiving’s rise past the Fourth of July as the most popular day to run a race to 2015. Buffalo’s field is now capped at 14,000, and Geoffrey Falkner, the race’s communications director, dates its costumes to the early 1980s.
Note the breakfast. Most of a Turkey Trot field is not racing, and the people who are racing are standing in a cold corral with thousands of others. Eat early and light, and dress for the start, not the finish.
Read Runner’s World · Turkey Trot history
By the numbers
RunSignup’s report on Thanksgiving Day 2025 counted 1,330,726 registrants across 1,056 races, a 20 percent increase on 2024, and an average of 1,260 participants per race. It counts only races on its own platform. Ninety-one percent of the races offered a 5K, and 24 percent had a kids’ dash.
Donations through the platform raised $3,175,112 for charity, and 76 percent of the races accepted them.
RunSignup · 2025 Turkey Trots Report
Arizona · Downtown Phoenix / Wesley Bolin Plaza
Phoenix Turkey Trot 5K
“Have fun with the family by running, jogging, or walking the easy course.”
Phoenix Turkey Trot — 5K Run & Walk
The 2026 race is Thursday, November 26, in the north parking lot of Wesley Bolin Plaza, across from the State Capitol. Race-morning packet pickup opens at 6:30 a.m., and the start times are 7:30 for the 1 mile, 7:50 for the 10K, 8:40 for the 5K, and 9:40 for the Tot Trot. Parking is free behind the Capitol off 19th Avenue and Jefferson Street, a short walk east to the start. Early packet pickup is November 23 and 24 at Sole Sports Scottsdale and November 25 at Sole Sports Tempe. On Race Roster, the 5K was $40 plus processing fees through November 15, and every entrant gets a shirt and a finisher medal. Strollers are welcome toward the back, and children riding in them do not need an entry. Dogs are strongly discouraged. There are no refunds, deferrals end November 15, and the FAQ says to register ahead because there is no race-day registration.
Phoenix Turkey Trot ·
FAQ ·
Race Roster
New York · Downtown Buffalo / Delaware Avenue
YMCA Turkey Trot · 131st start
“The oldest consecutively run footrace in the world, the YMCA Turkey Trot marks its 131st consecutive start in 2026.”
YMCA Buffalo Niagara — Runner Information
The 8K (4.97 miles) starts at 9:00 a.m. sharp on Thanksgiving, November 26, 2026. This year it runs a new single-lap course that starts and finishes at the Buffalo Convention Center and keeps the old route’s second half down Delaware Avenue. The YMCA lists indoor warm spaces and restrooms at the convention center. There is no water on the course, only at the finish and inside. Entry is $51 through October 31, $64 from November 1 to 18, and $75 after that if spots remain, with a 14,000-runner cap, a shirt included, and no refunds. Plan to arrive at least an hour early. Strollers are strongly discouraged and pets are not permitted. Costume-contest entrants check in at the stage by 7:50 a.m. Overall awards go by gun time and age groups by chip time.
YMCA Buffalo Niagara · Runner information ·
RunSignup · registration
Smartwatch + Analog
Watch Desk
Two lanes for a race that is over in about half an hour. The Forerunner 170 keeps pace and splits in a downtown crowd. The Q Timex Chronograph is a stopwatch with hands: start it at the gun and stop it at the mat.
Smartwatch · pace, splits, readiness
Garmin Forerunner 170
Light AMOLED running watch with a touchscreen and buttons, wrist heart rate, a barometer, altimeter and gyroscope, Garmin Pay, and Garmin’s newer interface with Training Status and Training Readiness. Tom’s Guide lists up to 10 days in smartwatch mode and 20 hours of all-systems GPS, at 41 g. Photographed: Forerunner 170, Black.
Tom’s Guide’s Nick Harris-Fry: “it’s the entry-level watches that I see most often on the wrists of my fellow runners.”
Tom’s Guide — Garmin Forerunner 170 review · May 24, 2026
Why 170 here: A Turkey Trot field runs on entry-level watches, and this is Garmin’s newest entry-level Forerunner, with training-readiness numbers that used to need a pricier watch. Honest caveat from the same review: it has no multi-band GPS, which Harris-Fry says can help “in city centers under tall buildings.” Both starts here are downtown, so let the first split wander.
Analog · a stopwatch with hands
Q Timex Chronograph
~$229 · TW2V42700 · 40 mm · black dial · leather strap ·
Buy at Timex40 mm stainless steel case, a black tachymeter bezel, a black dial with contrasting subdials, a date at 4:30, and 50 m water resistance, on a black leather strap. aBlogtoWatch notes that the quartz chronograph’s center seconds hand moves in 1/5-second steps and that the battery runs about five years. Photographed: TW2V42700.
aBlogtoWatch’s Sean Lorentzen: “an impressively fun and stylish wearing experience at the (barely) sub-$200 price point.” It is $229 at Timex now.
aBlogtoWatch — Watch Review: Timex Q Timex Chronograph · Nov 16, 2022
Why go analog on Thanksgiving: Start the chronograph at the gun and stop it at the mat, and the hands hold your time through the post-race crowd, the drive home, and the dinner table. No app, no sync, and nothing to charge, and it looks right with a sweater at 2 p.m. Hodinkee’s Jack Forster made the case for the complication in one line: “Chronographs are exact, versatile and fun.” Honest caveats: Forster calls the tachymeter bezel “in general completely useless,” and a 5K does not change that. StrapHabit’s Nick Lehner found that “the legibility of both dial colors is not great.” Let the Garmin keep the splits.
Pair them. The 170 tells you the pace while you are still running it. The Timex keeps the one number your family will ask about at the table. Forster’s piece is Hodinkee’s “Chronograph Vs. Dive Watch: Which Is More Practical For Real Life Timing?” (Jul 27, 2017), and Lehner’s is StrapHabit’s Q Timex Chronograph review (May 2, 2023).
Some buy links are affiliate. We may earn a commission. The price you pay does not change. Gear stays on the kit only if it survives the job. Full disclosure → /disclosure
Saucony
Endorphin Speed 5: a nylon-plated trainer that can race a 5K and still jog the cooldown.
saucony.comTracksmith
Twilight Split Shorts and the merino Harrier Long Sleeve, road-race classics in fall colors.
tracksmith.comSkida
Vermont-made headbands and hats in patterns you can find in a crowd.
skida.comRaceDots
Magnetic bib fasteners that hold through fleece and leave no pin holes.
racedots.comGarmin
Forerunner 170, the newest entry-level Forerunner, with Training Readiness.
garmin.comTimex
Q Timex Chronograph: a 1970s-style quartz chronograph for well under $300.
timex.com
Runner’s World · Nov 2025
Six started, four finished
Jenny McCoy on Buffalo’s 1896 race, a winner in 31:12, a breakfast that would not stay down, and how Thanksgiving became the most popular day to run a race.
RunSignup · Dec 2025
1.33 million in one morning
RunSignup’s count of Thanksgiving Day 2025: 1,330,726 registrants, 1,056 races, and a 5K at 91 percent of them.
Tom’s Guide · May 2026
The entry-level Forerunner
Nick Harris-Fry on the Forerunner 170: accurate tracking, better training analysis, short battery life, and no multi-band GPS.
