Oceanside CA- Registration and packet pick-up are underway for Thursday’s 8th annual PMCU O’Side ‘Turkey Trot’ . Registration continues Wednesday at the Camino Town and Country Shopping Center, 2245 S. El Camino Real 3:00PM. Several charities are using the event to further their cause while some people are using it as a stepping stone.
Lukas Verzbicas, a 20-year-old record-breaking runner, is on the way back from a near fatal bicycle accident in mid-2012. After being temporarily paralyzed and told he would never walk again, now one year later he is running again. Lukas aims to win the PMCU Turkey Trot and to make the 2016 Olympics.
Running enthusiast, Candace Ranson runs in honor of her late son, who died in a shark attack. She will be running the race and collecting race day medals for her charity organization, Medals of Courage.
Team Austin Bice run in memory of Austin Bice, a 22 year- old San Diego State senior who went to Madrid Spain to study international business and was found dead in the city’s Manzaneres River. Bice had run the race and loved it.
Morgan Ensberg To Participate
Former San Diego Padre star Morgan Ensberg of Solana Beach will be at the Turkey Trot feeding 150 U. S. Marine race volunteers and will also likely participate in the 5K. Ensberg plans to run the 5K at 8:25 a.m. energy permitting, after arriving early to feed the Marines with sandwiches from his Oceanside Jersey Mike’s Restaurant.
“I am excited to contribute to the PMCU O’Side ‘Turkey Trot’ and to the Marines,” said Ensberg, a Major League standout third baseman who played eight years in
professional baseball. “Feeding the Marines feels great to me as I have a connection to Oceanside and a soft spot for the military.”
Ensberg lived in Hermosa Beach and earned All-CIF baseball and basketball honors at Redondo Union HS. He was a walk-on on the USC baseball team after being asked to try out for the basketball team. As a senior third baseman at USC, Ensberg led the Trojans to the 1998 College World Series title and earned the team MVP Award and third-team All-America with a .344 batting average, 21 home runs and 69 RBI. He had a .331 career average at USC (1995-98) with 40 home runs and 149 RBI and was a member of two College World Series teams, including the 1998 national championship squad as an infielder.
Ensberg was taken in the ninth round of the 1998 Major League Baseball draft by Houston. In 2000, while in Spring Training in Florida, Ensberg and four of his teammates were held up at gunpoint and hog-tied for two hours. He survived the ordeal to become a top Major League star.
In 2005 Ensberg, while playing with the Houston Astros, was named to the National League All-Star team. He had a career year that season, batting .283, hitting 36 home runs and a career-high 101 RBI. “We made it to the World Series where we lost to the Chicago White Sox, but still it was a great year for me,” he said.
In 2007 Ensberg was traded to the San Diego Padres where he played one season. In 2008 he signed with the New York Yankees and ended his career with minor league contracts with the Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay Rays. The third baseman played in 731 games in the majors with a .263 career average, 110 home runs and 347 RBI. He retired from baseball in 2009. “My greatest thrill in baseball was winning the Darryl Kile ‘Good Guy’ Award with the Astros in 2005,” Ensberg said. “This is given to the player who is great with his teammates and the media. It is a reflection of how friends and teammates feel about you and is a humbling honor.”
In 2010 Ensberg went back to USC and completed his undergraduate degree in finance. He now owns one Jersey Mike’s franchise in Oceanside and will soon have three or four more Jersey Mike’s in the local area. “When we opened in Oceanside the first five days we gave out 10,000 free sub cards,” Ensberg said. “$1 on each sandwich purchased was donated to ‘Semper Fi,’ an organization that helps our Wounded Warriors. We raised $2,500 for them. The PMCU O’Side ‘Turkey Trot’ is important to the City and to the Military, and this is why I am happy to support it. “I have run the New York and Houston Marathons but my wife Christi is the runner in the family,” he said. “I am used to sprinting, running 90 feet and even 100 feet feels like a distance event to me.”
His wife Christi and Morgan have twin seven-year-old boys, Beckett and Chase, and a five-year-old daughter, Ava. “Family activities are now my focus,” he said. “I am 6’2″ tall and 250 pounds and I plod forward. I am not a graceful runner. Running is something I have taken up recently. Distance running is Christi’s passion and she runs two 1/2 marathons a month and runs them in under two hours.”
In the past seven years, the Oceanside Turkey Trot has raised over $140,000 for its participating charities. Race proceeds from the PMCU O’Side ‘Turkey Trot’ support the ‘Move Your Feet Before You Eat!’ Foundation, as well as local Oceanside and North County schools and participating non-profits. The race allows participants to personally select their beneficiary from a wide variety of worthy non-profit organizations and local Oceanside schools. All finishers will receive finisher medals. Winners in each division will earn medals with special gift certificates and other prizes for overall Top 3 placements in the women’s and men’s divisio
Charity Partners: The race directly benefits the Move Your Feet Before You Eat! Foundation, the Virginia Ann Scheunemann Memorial Fund, and numerous other local non-profit organizations. In addition, race entrants can personally select an Oceanside School to donate $5 of their registration fee to.
Times: 7a.m. for the 5 Miler, 8:25a.m. marks the first wave start time for the 5K Run/Walk. With continuing start waves until 8:50a.m. Then 9:40a.m. for the Costume Contest, and 10:30a.m. – 11:05a.m. for the Kid’s Runs.
Burning Calories on Thanksgiving: According to the American Council on Fitness, the average person consumes approximately 3,000 calories on Thanksgiving Day. To help battle that excess, runners can come burn more than 500 calories during the 5-Mile Race, just enough for that tasty slice of pumpkin pie.