SOUTH FORSYTH — While many will be celebrating Thanksgiving by eating and watching football, one group is giving the community a chance to get in a little exercise beforehand.

Five Star NTP, a family-owned and -operated sporting events management and coordination company, is holding the fifth annual Turkey Trot on Thursday morning.

Organizer Lowell Starr said the event is rooted in a love of running.

“In 2011, about two weeks before Thanksgiving we weren’t going anywhere, so my wife and I … decided to do a turkey trot and would do it free for anybody that raced with us for the course of the year, as kind of a give back and saying thanks.

“We’ll probably have about 2,200 people that will come and participate.”

Those who do will have a choice of four races.

“There’s a 5K, a 10K, a 15K and a half marathon,” Starr said. “Basically, it’s a 5K loop, so everyone doing the 5K goes around once, then 10K would go twice and the 15K three.

“The half marathon goes four and then there’s a little extra that they do to go the whole distance.”

The event is free to anyone who has run with Five Star this year, and $17 for those that haven’t. The races will begin at 8 a.m., starting and finishing at the BB&T Bank on Johns Creek Parkway.

The event includes a canned food drive for several local food pantries and nonprofits, including pet food for the Forsyth County Humane Society.  

More information can be found at http://www.fivestarntp.com/Five_Star_Turkey_Trot.html.