By Shauna Scott Rhone
The Cincinnati Enquirer

There's still time to sign up to participate in the 93rd annual Thanksgiving Day 10K Race Nov. 27 at Paul Brown Stadium. More than 12,000 people participated in last year's event.

Visit the Web site to either register online or print out the registration form to mail. There's also race-day registration for late entry.

Meanwhile, meet a few of the runners you might encounter:

Lisa Mills

When former Californian Lisa Mills moved to Cincinnati in 1997, she wanted to find a way to meet new people.

"I started walking with some of my neighbors every morning," says the 38-year-old clinical psychologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "We would walk and talk so much, we got into a routine. The conversations became so intimate, we all decided we would walk the first Flying Pig marathon (in 1998)."

By the time she finished the Flying Pig that year, Mills decided walking the route just took too long to finish, so she started training with Bob Roncker's Turkey Training group. By 2000, she had run her first Thanksgiving Day race and followed that up with a run to the finish line in the Flying Pig Marathon in 2001 with neighbors and running buddies Jim and Carol Krisko.

Mills says running with friends makes all the difference.

"Get somebody who you really enjoy being with or maybe even someone you'd like to get to know. It's the telling of stories while you're running that makes the time fly by.

"And it's a great way to meet people."

Marsha Moore

Burdened by obesity for most of her life, Marsha Moore of Madeira admits "I couldn't even do the one mile run test in (Highlands) High School."

Fast-forward to last year's Thanksgiving Day Race and there she is, walking across the finish line accompanied by her husband and other family members. How'd she do it? Health concerns and the loss of her mother at an early age helped Moore, 26, decide to do more to improve her life.

"I lost 115 pounds (in 18 months through Weight Watchers) and started running in January," says Moore, a clinical researcher at Procter & Gamble. She's run four 5Ks this year, and is looking forward to the Thanksgiving Day Race.

"The Thanksgiving Day Race atmosphere is awesome," she says. "It's Thanksgiving and everyone is out there together. You really do get swept away with the joy of the crowd and don't even notice that you're covering 6.2 miles."

Praddy Mangat

Running is a way of life for Praddy Mangat. Born in Kenya, the 48-year-old Pierce Township resident says he's run races since high school. Mangat, who's been in the throng of Thanksgiving Day Runs since 1980, says he's in it for the fun of it.

"It's a great way for me to relax," says Mangat, who works at Bova Contemporary Furniture in Symmes Township. "Just being out in the outdoors and enjoying the camaraderie of the group I run with makes it fun."

He says keeping pace in the race with three or four of his running buddies "gives me an extra push to finish well. It's not really competitive, just a traditional way to run for fun. Sometimes, you get coaxed into running by friends and family, but it's really a good way to stay fit."