NILES — The only time Theresa Pipher has missed Niles-Buchanan YMCA’s Thanksgiving Day Run in its 38 years was when she could not get the day off of work. She instead watched runners pass by from the window of a hospital, where she works.

This year, Pipher has every intention to participate in the Thursday event, hosted at the YMCA, 905 N. Front St., Niles.

Pipher herself will run the 5K at 9:15 a.m., which her daughter-in-law will also run. Then, Pipher will join her 4-year-old granddaughter for the 1-mile fun run after it begins at 9:30 a.m.

In the past, Pipher ran the 10K, which starts at 7:45 a.m. this year, but she will easily make up the distance lost in the three marathons she intends to run next year anyway.

It is the family-oriented atmosphere of the races, which drew in more than 2,300 runners from 32 states last year, that keeps Pipher coming back.

“There’s so many from the area that come to this with their families, and then they run the Thanksgiving run as a family get-together,” she said.

The race shirts are a plus, too, Pipher said. Attendees can see many of the shirts of races past in quilt Pipher created upon entering the YMCA.

Niles native Chris Gessinger also said he appreciates the event’s family atmosphere. He has turned the race into a family tradition.

Like last year, Gessinger, his wife and 12 of their children and grandchildren will run and walk at the Thanksgiving Day Run.

Gessinger’s family is not an avid runner family, he said. Gessinger began training for the run only a few days earlier himself.

But Gessinger makes sure to exercise frequently in ways other than running. The emphasis on wellness is something he hopes his family’s new Thanksgiving tradition inspires.

“On a day that we’re supposed to give thanks on everything we have, to be thankful for your health is probably the most important thing in life,” he said. “I want to pass it on to my kids and grandkids as well.”

Physical fitness became all the more important last year, when Gessinger underwent a successful open-heart surgery. That Thanksgiving, still recovering, he walked the race with his granddaughter rather than run.

This year, he hopes to finish the 5K in 30 minutes.

Outside of family and fitness, Gessinger and Pipher noted another benefit of racing: a hungrier stomach to feast on Thanksgiving Day food.

Prospective participants can still register for the races by going to the Niles-Buchanan YMCA. The price is $35 per person.

Longtime Niles resident, Denise Peters, of the YMCA of Southwest Michigan, used her experience as a former cross-country coach to provide tips to first-time racers.

She said the energy of the event causes races to start fast, but falling into one’s own pace will lead to success.

She also recommended enjoying the aura in the air.

“The biggest thing is the energy and the family atmosphere,” she said. “You can just feel the energy of Thanksgiving in the air. It’s very powerful.”

A score of Peters’ family members will be racing while she helps coordinate the event.

Proceeds of the Thanksgiving Day Run will go to the YMCA’s annual campaign, which marketing coordinator Kayla Foster wrote provides youth programming at little to no cost and provides financial support to YMCA members through membership scholarships.