4Y5K: Community of Care

4Y5K: Community of Care takes place in Charlottesville, Virginia, on November 21, 2026. The event offers one format, the 4Y5K: Community of Care Race, a 5K (3.1 miles) with an 8:00 AM start. Its web address sits on the University of Virginia's site, so you can expect a campus-connected event, and the "Community of Care" theme points to a run built around participation rather than pure competition.

A 5K on a Saturday morning is about as approachable as road racing gets. If this is your first event, six to eight weeks of run-walk sessions three times a week will get you comfortably to the finish; if you already run regularly, use it to check your fitness before the winter with a solid effort and see where your 5K time lands. Arrive early enough to jog ten minutes and do a few strides before 8:00 AM, keep the first half mile under control, and pick up the pace in the final mile if you have something left. Bring a layer you can hand off before the start, since you will be standing around before an early gun.