Rise & Grind Fitness Ugly Sweater 5K

Rise & Grind Fitness Ugly Sweater 5K is held in Lillington, North Carolina, on December 19, 2026, with one event: a 5K starting at 8:30 a.m. The ugly-sweater theme sets the tone, so expect a field dressed for the occasion rather than kitted out for a time trial, and a single start that keeps race morning short.

If you plan to run in a sweater, do at least one training run in it first — knitwear traps far more heat than technical fabric, and three miles is long enough for that to matter. Runners racing this seriously should stick to normal kit and use the 5K as a hard effort in an otherwise easy week. Four weeks of steady running with one weekly set of short repeats is enough preparation either way.