About this guide

How we built the Ohio list

We started from RunSignup's public race search for Ohio races in Thanksgiving week of 2025 and 2026, and added leads from local news roundups and running calendars. Leads are only leads. Each of the 76 races is confirmed on its own website or its official registration page, and every race has its own page here listing its sources.

71 races register on RunSignup. For those, the date, events, start times, fee schedule and start location come from RunSignup's public race data for that race; we store the exact values, the record's address and the date we fetched it, and we also match the race date (and start times, where printed) against the race's page. The other 5 we read directly from their own sites. For anything a race director wrote in their own words, such as the charity, stroller and dog rules, costumes, race-day signup and packet pickup, we keep the exact sentence. Before each update a script re-fetches every page and every RunSignup record and checks that each quote and stored value still matches. The list was last fully checked on October 12, 2026.

We left out virtual-only races, races weeks before Thanksgiving, a Christmas-themed 5K, an orienteering event, and a West Chester 5K whose 2026 registration had already closed. We did not use Facebook or Reddit as sources.

What the labels mean

• "2026 date posted by the race": the race's own page or official registration page prints its 2026 calendar date. 66 races.
• "…race date wording says Thanksgiving": the race's page shows 2026 price deadlines or 2026 registration and says the race is on Thanksgiving, but doesn't print a calendar date. 3 races. We list them for Thanksgiving Day and don't mark them up as scheduled events for search engines.
• "2025 race; 2026 not yet posted": we found the race's 2025 edition but no 2026 date yet. Times on these cards are marked 2025 and no prices are shown. 7 races.
• The big number on each bib is the first adult start ("First adult start" when the race also has a kids' run). Every event's own start time is listed below it.
• Prices are the entry fees the race posted, step by step, with the last day of each step. Where the race page prints an age-based price (for example "ages 0 to 12: free") we show it. Some races offer other options, such as no-shirt or youth registrations, that we list only as "More price options".
• "Price goes up after…" and "Online signup ends…" come only from dates the race posted. Your browser works out whether that date is within a week, and "price goes up" appears only when the next posted fee is higher.
• Strollers, dogs and costumes appear only where the race said something, in the race's own scope ("Dogs on the 1-mile walk only", "Costumes encouraged on the 1-mile"). "Leashed" appears only where the race mentions a leash. A card without them means the race didn't say, not that they're banned. Open "What the race says" to read the race's exact words.
• Race-day signup is shown only where the race says whether you can register on race morning. Packet pickup is listed separately.
• Distances in the finder are straight-line miles from the center of your ZIP code (US Census 2024 ZIP code areas) to the race. Races are placed by the street address they post, using the US Census geocoder. 14 races either post only a park or building name, or post an address the geocoder couldn't match; those are placed at the center of their ZIP code, show "about" in the finder, and the estimate is used only for distances.

Sources

• Each race's own website or registration page, linked on its card and its race page.
• RunSignup's public race API (runsignup.com/API) for races registered there.
• US Census Bureau geocoder and the 2024 ZIP Code Tabulation Area gazetteer.

How often we recheck

We plan to recheck every race in early November and again the week before Thanksgiving.

Corrections

Race directors and readers: if a date, time, price or rule is wrong or out of date, tell us through North Coast AI and include a link to where the correct details are posted. We fix errors against the race's own page and never charge for listings or corrections.

Ads, analytics and privacy

This site shows Google AdSense ads and uses Google Analytics to count visits. With JavaScript on, the ZIP code you type stays in your browser: the home page hands it to the Ohio finder through your browser's session storage, or, if that's unavailable, in the part of the address after "#", which browsers don't send to the server; the finder then removes it from the address and never adds it back. If JavaScript is off, the home page's ZIP form opens /ohio/?zip=…, so your ZIP is in that page address, where our server logs and Google Analytics may record it. Read the full privacy policy.

Who makes this

Find a Turkey Trot is published by North Coast AI LLC in Ohio. The race list was researched with AI assistance and reviewed by Bill Burkey.