Local family kicks off holiday with  Thanksgiving Day  Run in Niles

While most people were sleeping in on a snowy Thanksgiving morning, a couple thousand were braving the elements to compete in the Niles-Buchanan YMCA’s 33rd annual Thanksgiving Day Run.

The Hix family of five has been coming for the past three or four years.

The father, Jason, said it is becoming a tradition.

“My wife (Jennifer) is a runner and the kids enjoy the run too,” said Jason, of South Bend. “We like the physical activity part of it and it is something to do as a family.”

Jason, Jennifer and their children, Megan, 8, Jacob, 6, and Oliver, 5, all ran the 5K.

“We like it because it is close, it’s been around a long time and it is well organized,” he said.

Snow was falling at a steady clip by the time the 10K began around 8 a.m., making for slippery conditions on the course, which wound its way through the streets of downtown Niles.

Robert Conway, a 71-year-old marathon runner from Niles, pulled out of the 10K about a quarter mile into the race.

“I’ve seen it pretty rough, but it was really slick today,” Conway said. “It’s not worth it for me at my age to break a leg or a hip.”

Conway, who began his running career at around the age of 30, has competed in the YMCA’s Thanksgiving Day Run for around 20 years. He is also part of the YMCA’s running club, which meets at the YMCA every Thursday evening.

Thursday marked the first time he has ever dropped out of a race.

“It is a little disappointing — quite a bit actually,” he said. “It was just too slick out there.”

While the conditions weren’t ideal, they did not keep many from capitalizing on the opportunity to burn off a few calories prior to the Thanksgiving feast.

Thirty-two-year-old Fidel Mireles made the 80-mile trek from Holland to run in his first Niles-Buchanan YMCA 5K run.

“I just wanted to have a good time with my family,” Mireles said. “My dad is here, my brother is here and my brother-in-law is here. We just wanted to get out and do something together.”