Mercer County Health Department Turkey Trot 5k

Mercer County Health Department Turkey Trot 5k takes place in Aledo, Illinois, on November 21, 2026. The single event is a 5K (3.1 miles) that starts at 9:00 a.m., organized by the Mercer County Health Department as a Thanksgiving-week run in this western Illinois town.

A health-department turkey trot is by nature a community event, and a 5K is the most approachable racing distance there is. If you are starting from scratch, you can be ready in about eight weeks with three sessions a week, building from run-walk intervals to 30 minutes of continuous running. If you already run a few times a week, a short block of faster work, such as six to eight repeats of two minutes at a brisk pace with a jog in between, will sharpen you for the distance. Dress in layers for a late-November start and keep your warm-up short but active. Start conservatively for the first half mile, then settle into a pace you can hold, and use the final stretch to empty the tank.