Donut Dash 5K

Donut Dash 5K is held in Elkton, Maryland, on November 8, 2026, with a single 5K starting at 9:00 a.m. One distance and one start time make for a simple morning, and the 9:00 a.m. gun leaves enough room to travel in, collect a bib and warm up without hurrying.

The 5K is the most repeatable race distance there is, which is what makes it useful: run one every few weeks through the fall and you get a running record of your fitness without ever needing a taper. If you want to go faster on this one, six weeks of adding a single weekly session of 400 to 800 meter repeats to your easy running will do more than anything else. If you are new to it, running three times a week for a month is enough to reach the finish in good shape.