Jane Hutterly, and her husband, Louie Seabolt, love the holiday season.
Families come from near and far to line up with plates in hand at the dinner table. Kids are around with grandchildren in tow, ready to spoil. And the holiday spirit fills the walls and halls of our homes for that special few days a year.
For Jane and her family, 2014 offered a lot more planning than just the Thanksgiving menu. This November, she and her husband were busy launching the first-ever Thanskgiving Day “Turkey Trot” 5K Walk/Run in their neighborhood of Jackson Ridge.
The idea started with an email from Louie’s daughter, Susan, from Michigan. She mentioned that she and her family wanted to run a 5K on Thanksgiving morning during their visit to the Lake Oconee area for the holiday. After a search of local communities, Louie and Jane found an 8K race in nearby Athens was the only option. The distance, both in drive time and race length, was a little too ambitious.
“That’s when I thought, ’well, why don’t we just create a 5K ourselves,’” said Jane.
And, so that’s what they did!
Jane ordered a banner and emailed neighbors, inviting and encouraging all to come out for the event. She quickly found that their unofficial race was coming together right before their very eyes.
Family and friends, who had traveled from as close as Atlanta, Charleston and Tallahassee to as far away as Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and New York City to enjoy the holiday on beautiful Lake Oconee participated in the event. Starting time was 9am and over 30 runners and walkers all lined up eager to tackle the 3.1 mile course in and around Jackson Ridge. Although the temperature was slightly chilly, racers were excited to enjoy a cup of fresh, warm cider at the end of the course – complements of Hutterly and the Turkey Trot race committee.
Following a successful kickoff event in 2014, there will certainly be expectations for another race next holiday season. But for this race committee, they will be ready to accept the challenge.
“It was lots of fun putting this together for our family and friends to enjoy.” says Jane. “It is just another great example of people having a wonderful time in our beautiful community.”
