The St. Paul Turkey Trot is a good option for those who want to avoid the total craziness of the downtown Minneapolis 5K. They offer a 6K and 10K on Thanksgiving morning.

Packet pickup was available a full week before the race at a running store in St. Paul. Super convenient and the store offers 20% off whenever you're picking up a bib.

The race is run by MN Run Series, who is one of the best in the state for races (second only to the mammoth, Twin Cities in Motion, in my opinion). They have the best announcer (same guy at every race!), are super organized with signage and information and just run great races. The medals get a bit boring as they use the same design throughout the year and just swap out the logo, but they are always nice quality. A long-sleeved running shirt was included as well (they provide short-sleeve shirts for warmer-weather races).

This particular race is on Shepard Rd. in St. Paul along the river, so parking was $5 at either the RiverCentre Ramp or Science Museum. Warning: traffic off the highways and into the ramp was awful. I saw lots of 10Kers just arriving when they should already have started their race. Next time I would try to find an alternative parking location, as it took quite awhile to exit the ramp as well.

Both courses are an out and back along the river. It is a rolling hills course, but nothing too crazy. The 6K runs long; my Garmin measured 4 miles and I thought it was due to weaving around walkers, etc. but other people have confirmed it hits 4 miles every year. Just something to be aware of. Not sure if the 10K course is long as well.

Highly recommend this as a fun, mid-sized (the 6K had 1,420 runners) turkey trot!