For most Americans, Thanksgiving is about turkey, stuffing, and stuffing oneself with both. For the 3 Americans and the 1 Canadian at the OrganicAthlete Training Center, our Thanksgiving Day experience was quite the opposite of the norm.

We started the day at 5:45am with a run (how else would an OrganicAthlete start the day?). Ok, I'm only partly serious, we started the day by organizing a run - the inaugural Save a Turkey Trot 5k. Over 150 runners and walkers came out to our event! We were quite pleased for the first year. I don't know how many people came to actually save the turkeys, but I did overhear several conversations about being a vegan athlete. That's a great way to save turkeys.

The race went smoothly thanks to the many volunteers who came out, and we had the gate to the track locked by noon. We decided then that we'd head up to Healdsburg for the free Thanksgiving dinner at Cafe Gratitude. We got there just after they ran out of food. I wasn't too disappointed though. I had a bite of my friend's food, and it was way too salty for my taste.

Justin, Kevin, and Charity next went to Santa Rosa for the Vegan Voices potluck. I went for a ride. Epic rides are something of a Thanksgiving tradition for me. Last year, David Strong and I rode to the top of Mount Saint Helena and back for a Save a Turkey ride. This year, I didn't have 7 hours of daylight to spare, so I went exploring. While scrolling around google maps, I had discovered a road that I wanted to check out. I seek out dirt roads with steep climbs and utterly sketchy descents for my road bike. I was not disappointed with Chemise Road and Big Ridge Roads. That 10 miles of road made my day.

Back on pavement, I meandered to Christian and Cheryl's house for raw vegan pumpkin pie, meeting back up with the rest of the OA peeps, hanging out in my chamois, and playing with a 20 month old. Vegan babies rule - that kid looks healthy and he's strong to boot. The night ended with Justin playing music for us at Charity's parents house.

How was your Thanksgiving? Any good stories to share of being the odd vegan at the family dinner?