Monster Mash Dash 5K - Pinehurst

Monster Mash Dash 5K - Pinehurst is held in Pinehurst, North Carolina, on October 31, 2026. A half-mile fun run opens the morning at 8:30 a.m., and the 5K, covering 3.1 miles, starts at 9:00 a.m.

Half an hour between a short fun run and the main race is enough to do both comfortably, and the shorter one doubles neatly as a warm-up provided you keep the effort easy. The 5K itself is short enough to race hard without a long training block: four weeks of one weekly interval session on top of your usual running is the standard recipe. Pace it in thirds, controlled then honest then everything left, and you will finish quicker than if you sprint the opening quarter-mile.