I believe it was just before Thanksgiving Day 2003 that Coach Steve Ilg created the “Earn Your Bird” or was it the “Burn Your Bird” challenge. It was his way of getting us ready to mindfully eat on T-Day. The Earn your Bird challenge was a triathlon of sorts. We started out with an hour long meditation class followed by an intense 90 minute power yoga class and finished with and run to the top of a local hill on trails, back to back to back. Well, Coach Ilg moved to Durango, CO and I have been carrying the tradition ever since.

As a running and triathlon coach I can think of nothing better than to Earn Your Bird on Thanksgiving day. There are many ways to do it but probably the easiest is to run in your local Turkey Trot. Turkey Trots are all over the United States and I have done many different ones right here in Southern California. This year I’ll be at the Run For The Hungry 5k in La Canada, CA with my 5k Training Team that I have been coaching for the last 10 weeks.

Now I want to take it one step further, and make this Earn Your Bird week with a special Burn Your Bird workout on Friday. So here’s my plan: Run Monday (done). Tuesday – Teach a Spinning and yoga class then run Hill Intervals Tuesday night. Wednesday – Run early then teach another Spinning class with all the songs related to Thanksgiving. Thursday go to the Run for The Hungry 5k, then eat. Friday – Burn the Bird with a Run and Spinning class.

This may seem excessive but part of it is my job. Your job is to find a way to Earn and Burn Your Bird.

The Xterra Topanga Turkey Trot is above and beyond most Turkey Trots

Gobble Focused, Steve Mackel – Master ChiRunning Instructor