Hartsville YMCA Turkey Trot

Hartsville YMCA Turkey Trot is put on by the local YMCA in Hartsville, South Carolina, on November 26, 2026. The morning opens with a Fun Run at 7:30 a.m., then the main event, a 5K (3.1 miles), starts at 8:00 a.m. The short gap between the two keeps everything tight, so families can do the fun run and still be at the 5K start line.

Early starts like this one are a gift on a holiday: you are done, showered, and free before most people have finished breakfast. The trade-off is warming up in cool morning air, so arrive with enough time to jog for ten minutes and run a few strides before 8:00. As a race, a 5K rewards restraint in the first half mile more than anything else. If you want to sharpen for it, add one session of four to six repeats of two minutes at hard effort each week for the three weeks beforehand.