Race #18: The John Rudy 5-Miler, York, PA

The Cause: The York Road Runners Club & their Winter Race Series… but also, the greater running community.

It’s normally cold in Pennsylvania in January.

It’s normally hard to stay motivated to run through the winter.

That’s why the York Road Runners Club founded their Winter Race Series–get this–40 years ago, in 1979. I doubt many other running clubs have such a long-standing winter race series tradition!

Clay Shaw was president of the club at that time. Today, he’s still involved in the club–in fact he was behind the camera, taking photos of the 300+ participating runners at today’s race. And his wife Karen Mitchell is the club’s current president. They both do great things for the central PA running community and I am honored to consider them friends.

It’s awesome that the club has a winter race series, let alone that it includes eight (count them!) different races. I love the fact that they’re mostly 5-milers and 10k’s. Today’s race was #4 in the series.

As mentioned in a previous post (click here for Race #9 – Running in Celebration of Local Run Clubs), the “cause” of today’s race benefits all involved–the club, each runner, but also the greater running community.

The weather for today’s “WINTER” race was 50 degrees and 88% humidity. It was likely the most humid January race ever!

The “friend factor” also helps runners stay motivated through the winter. I am thankful for a wonderful group of running friends to carpool with, share laughs, cheer each other on, and encourage our running through the winter–whether it’s cold, rainy, or whether it feels like July in January.

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