OWASCO #- Bright and early Thursday morning, Wayne Mason had coffee brewing, bagels out and was ready to start the day with a good long run before Thanksgiving dinner.

But this was not just a run around his neighborhood; Mason was joined by a couple dozen other runners for his annual Thanksgiving Day Walk and Run.

This year marks the third time Mason has hosted the run, which begins at his home on Fairway Drive, in Owasco. The event is also an opportunity to help raise funds for Warm the Children, a charity that collects and buys coats for children in need of warm winter clothing.

“My girlfriend said we should do something to help,” Mason said. “So we decided just to put out a jar and whomever wanted to, could throw in some money. We think it is a really good organization, 100 percent of the money goes towards buying coats for kids.”

Mason, who is also very involved in organizing the Labor Day Classic every year, said that he was inspired to get the Thanksgiving run going when his son Chris, was in high school.

“My son's coach, Al Wilson, started this,” Mason said. “It was a smaller race and we usually ran in it. Al went over to Iraq and the race stopped.”

Mason said there was a period of a couple of years where he always toyed with the idea of getting the race going again, but it always seemed to be difficult to find the time.

But three years ago, Mason decided that it was important to find the time and revive this holiday tradition.

“There are a lot of local people that look forward to this,” Mason said. “I decided that it was time to do something about it.”

Organizing a race comes with a lot of logistical issues; planning a course, getting roads blocked off, getting time keepers. Mason decided to adapt the idea a little bit and transform it into a less competitive and more leisurely Thanksgiving run.

“Races are time consuming,” he said. “So we decided just to do a run and see how it went. Just get some people together at the house and go for a nice run around in the country and just enjoy it.”

Maintaining a relaxing atmosphere, Mason invites everyone that runs to meet at his home and have coffee and a bagel before starting the run and to take some time after the run and relax and get refreshed.

“We do it all out of the house,” he said. “We have coffee and hot chocolate and doughnut holes and bagels. For people that have kids and can't take them out, my daughter is here to watch them. We tried to make it all really convenient for everyone.

Runners are also free to choose their own path and go at their own pace, with three and six mile course options. Many that gathered at Mason's Thursday morning were avid runners, who like to get out and get their exercise in every day.

Darlene Podolak made her run debut this year after hearing others talk about the run.

“I was going to get up and run anyway,” Podolak said. “But I thought this was a better way. It is always more fun to get out and run with other people instead of by yourself. It was a lot of fun, a really good course. As long as they keep doing this I'll be here for it.”

Others, like Jason and Jennifer Page, run together regularly, but wanted to start Thanksgiving off on a healthy foot.

“It is a good way to start the day,” Jennifer said. “We thought it would be good to do something like this before eating and all that pie.”

Over the past few years, Mason has seen the run grow, drawing more and more people and he hopes that is a trend that will continue.

“Every year we get a couple more people,” he said. “A lot of it has been all by word of mouth and we've had a lot of support from the community. I think people just like to have something fun to do to start their Thanksgiving Day.”