The Turkey Trot Goes Back to Pali High This Thanksgiving. Here's What Changes on Race Morning.

The Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot returns to Palisades Charter High School on Thursday, November 26, 2026. It will start at the rebuilt stadium track on Bowdoin Street, a year after the race was held downtown out of necessity. The basic setup is the pre-fire one again, with packet pickup at Palisades Village during Thanksgiving week and the start at the high school on Thursday morning. Several details inside that setup are new for 2026, including the 10K course, the dog rule and the kids' age groups.

If you ran in 2024, some of what you remember still holds. If you ran in 2025, much less of it does. The table below sets the three years side by side.

Three Thanksgivings, Three Versions of the Same Race

The 2024 race was the last one before the fire. The Palisadian-Post's 2024 preview described a start and finish at Stadium by the Sea, with the course winding through El Medio Bluffs. That year, organizers also dropped Temescal Canyon Road from the 10K. In the Post's account, co-founder and organizer David O'Connell said the 10K would loop El Medio a second time, "designed to minimize the impact on holiday travelers." The same preview said organizers expected about 2,500 runners.

The Year the Race Moved Downtown

The 2025 race was never guaranteed to happen. The Los Angeles Times reported that O'Connell wasn't sure it would take place at all. After Labor Day, calls from sponsors and runners changed that, and about 2,000 people signed up. The race started and finished at Palisades Village Green, which the Times described as a small triangular park in the middle of downtown. From there the course ran through the Via de las Olas bluffs. Circling the News gave the reason for the move: Palisades High was still being cleaned.

O'Connell told the Times that the location was temporary:

"This is a new course too. I'm not sure what we're going to do in the future, but for now, we're here in downtown Pacific Palisades, which, given the circumstances, adds a level of magnitude."

For 2026, the race is back at the high school. The stadium track is rebuilt, the same track whose return this blog covered when Pali High football came back to Stadium by the Sea. The race site promotes it directly, saying runners can "experience the newly rebuilt Palisades High School Stadium track."

The Village Gets Its Errand Back

Before the fire, the Village handled the errand and the high school handled the race. The 2024 preview reported that Palisades Village would "return to host pack pick-up" in its Swarthmore Room on the three days before Thanksgiving. In 2025, with the race itself downtown, pickup moved to the Vons on Sunset Boulevard. For 2026, Palisades Village by Caruso is the title sponsor, and pickup is back at the Village, Monday through Wednesday, November 23 to 25. Wednesday, November 25, is the last pickup day, and it is also a farmers market day: the market runs on Swarthmore Avenue from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday through December 30. If you plan to shop the Wednesday market that week, you can pick up your bib on the same trip. The race site hasn't posted pickup hours for 2026, so check them before you go.

Race Morning at the Stadium

With the event back at the high school, the morning has a different shape. The RunSignup page tells participants to go straight to the Dolphin Stadium football field and find the registration area. Festivities start at 7 a.m., half an hour earlier than the 7:30 a.m. start near the Village last year. The race program is scheduled to wrap up by 11 a.m.

The official start time differs depending on where you look. The race website says "Race starts at 8:00 AM sharp," and the race description on RunSignup also says 8:00 a.m. But every individual event listing on that same RunSignup page shows 8:15 a.m. If you're running, plan for the earlier time.

Three more changes matter if you ran last year.

1. Dogs. In 2025, dogs were allowed and owners were asked to clean up after them. The 2026 RunSignup page says "No Dogs Allowed" on the football field. It doesn't say whether dogs can join on the course itself, so check with organizers before bringing one.
2. Parking. The race site lists parking at Palisades Charter High School plus street parking. RunSignup points drivers to the area in and around the Alphabet Streets and asks anyone who lives near downtown to walk. Don't count on the Palisades Recreation Center lot as a backup. The Palisadian-Post reported that reconstruction there was set to begin October 26, with both parking lots, the playground, the basketball courts and the ball fields expected to close by mid-November.
3. The 10K route. The race site calls the 10K a "New 2026 course" and describes the 5K only as a 3.1-mile route through Pacific Palisades. The course map section on RunSignup is still blank. The race-day details page still on the site is last year's, including its street closures from 5:30 to 11:30 a.m. Treat those hours as 2025 information, not a guide to this year's closures.

The El Medio Bluffs loop and the Via de las Olas loop each had a reason. The first kept the race off Temescal Canyon Road on a heavy travel morning. The second was the route that worked from a downtown start. What the new 10K uses will show which streets organizers can rely on now that the race is back at the high school.

Who Runs, and Where the Money Goes

The 2026 lineup is built around local schools. Registration lists a Kids Race presented by St. Matthew's Parish School and a separate Kids Race for Marquez Charter Elementary, both for ages 5 to 10. There is also a Pali High Aquatics 5K, the "Junior Spencer Benner & Friends 5K," which starts alongside the main 5K. In 2024, the single Kids Race was open to ages 5 to 16. This year the kids' races stop at 10, and the 10K opens at age 11.

Registration costs $69.90 for the 5K, $80.50 for the 10K and $45.52 for the kids' races, fees included. The 5K and 10K prices go up after 11:59 p.m. on Friday, November 13. Volunteer sign-ups, open to ages 14 to 75, close November 19.

St. Matthew's, Chabad Palisades and Friendship Circle are listed as community sponsors. The race's RunSignup donations page names the Palisades YMCA as its fundraising cause. Donors can also choose the Live Like Braun Foundation, Friendship Circle or Pali High Aquatics. Chip-timed results go up the same day at paliturkeytrot.com/results.

Before Thanksgiving week, check the race site for three things that aren't posted yet: the confirmed start time, the 2026 street route and closure hours, and the dog policy for the course.

The race went back to the high school once the stadium reopened, much as this fall's Halloween events moved to follow whichever campuses and fields had reopened. If you're weighing how those changes affect a property you own or manage here, The Cilic Group follows them block by block. Request a confidential consultation.