Course record falls as more than 7,500 finish Turkey Day Run in downtown Charleston

Travis Schaffer hadn’t joined the Turkey Day Run & Gobble Wobble in nearly a decade.

He grew up in Summerville, and the downtown Charleston race was a Thanksgiving Day tradition. Each year, the whole Schaffer clan – his father Brian, sister Lilli and younger brother Noah – would rise early in the morning and head downtown looking for just the right parking place near the Meeting Street start line.

“It was really my dad who got everyone going,” Travis Schaffer said. “He was a runner. Mom would stay home and cook, but we headed downtown before the sun came up. We hated it, we hated getting up so early on a holiday, but by the end of the race we were all laughing and having a great time. I’ve got so many great memories from those days.”

His father died two years ago. Schaffer, 40, signed up for the race last year but couldn’t bring himself to run. 

“It was just too emotional for me,” he said. “This year I wanted to run and honor my dad.”

Schaffer and his 10-year-old son, Matthew, were among the more than 7,500 finishers Thursday morning at the 46th annual Turkey Day Run & Gobble Wobble.

The Turkey Day race has been one of the largest 5k events in the United States for the past decade. A year ago, the race attracted nearly 6,000 finishers, which was the 12th largest 5k event in the U.S.

“It was a blockbuster year for us,” Turkey Day race director Steve Thompson said. “Normal races have about a 10 percent drop rate on race day, and we were at about two percent drop rate today, so it was a huge success. The estimates were that more than 20,000 people – basically your best friends – came out and were downtown as either participants or just spectators.”

With almost no wind and temperatures hovering in the upper 50s, conditions were ideal for a fast race under a cloudless sky at gun time.

Lauren Goss, who attended Wando High School, blazed her way to a female course record of 15 minutes and 41 seconds. Goss finished fourth overall.