Sponsoring Restaurants

We now have seven restaurants in our gift package.  Donate as little as $25.00 and get a chance to win the package.  You will receive $50.00 gift certificates from each of these restaurants.

  The Cantina on Cahaba Valley Rd, (The Cadence Center on Hwy 119)

Bistro V, 521 Montgomery Hwy., Vestavia Hills 

Carrabba's Italian Grill, 4503 Riverview Parkway, Birmingham 

      (The Target Shopping Center on 280)

Brio Tuscan Grill, Brookwood Village, Lakeshore Dr, Birmingham

Nabell's Cafe' & Market, 1706 Oxmoor Rd, Homewood

Edgar's Bakery - Shops of the Colonnade - 449 Southgate Dr, Pelham -

Patton Creek, Hoover - Cadence Place, Hwy 119, Hoover

Brava Rotisserie Grill, 5184 Caldwell Mill Rd. at Valleydale Rd. Birmingham

There will be more!

Exact Course Measurement

We have measured the course and, as I suspected, it is a little longer than 3.2 miles.  The exact measurement is  3.389 miles.  The 50K will be 9 laps plus a .569 mile (1001 yard) loop at the end.  It is still a trail race and cannot be certified, but the course will be almost exactly 50K.  Twelve hour distances will be calculated accordingly.

Don't forget the package of $50 gift certificates we will give away to someone that raises additional donations or donates themselves to Camp Smile-A-Mile.  (Each restaurant must donate at least a $50.00 gift certificate to participate.)  Brio's has donated $75.00.  The winner gets them all.  Donations must be at least $25.00 to qualify.

Run for Kids Challenge - Update

Saturday, May 5 is the date of the 2012 Run for Kids Challenge at Oak Mountain State Park here in Birmingham.  The race will again feature the 12 Hour Challenge and the 50K Trail Races.  In addition there will be a Trail Running Festival for those that do not feel they are quite up to 32 miles.  Festival runners will be able to select the distance they wish to attempt, whether it is one lap of the 3.2 mile trail, two laps or 9 laps.  If they want to run 10 laps, that is fine but we will enter them in the 50K.  Festival runners will have full access to all aid station supplies as they would if they were entered in the longer races.  The idea is to allow 5K and 10K road runners or any runners to get a taste of trail running and ultra running without the commitment required to run even a short ultra.  Register at Ultrasignup.com or there is a printable form on the website.

The 12 Hour and 50K runs will start at 7:00AM Saturday and the Festival Run will begin at 8:00 AM.  The start/finish will be on the paved road in front of the Cedar Pavilion at the far south end of Double Oak Lake, the swimming and canoeing lake at the park.  The run will follow a short stretch of paved road before  entering a wooded section of trail, then along a walking path to the beach area.  Runners will then cross the beach, run through the terrace area and follow the contour of the lake to the canoe rental area. From there, runners cross another short section of road, over part of the lake before entering the Lake Trail, the new single track beginner bike path around the back side of Double Oak Lake.  The trail winds around the lake for about a mile before crossing a foot bridge over the spillway, then runs along the top of the dam before heading back into the woods.  The trail then follows the contour of the terrain as it snakes its way back to the aid station  at the start/finish area.  Here are a few shots of the lake and trail.

If you live anywhere in the north central Alabama or even western Georgia consider driving over for the race.  With a 7:00 AM start, it would be easy to drove in from Atlanta or Chattanooga, especially considering you would gain an hour.  We will have race day registration although there will likely be no shirts available.  If you want a nice, technical shirt (I am purchasing the same shirts used for the Lookout Mountain 50 Mile race in December) then register in advance.

The Beach and Pavilion area is viable across the lake on the left taken from the dam.

Another section of the trail.  The very bright area to the right is the lake.

The whole point in the Run For Kids Challenge is to raise money for Camp Smile-A-Mile and hopefully we will have a lot of Trail Festival Runners.

Dinner Package Drawing

It is now 108 days until the Run for Kids Challenge.

We now have six commitments to donate free dinners to the Run for Kids Drawing.  Due to time constraints, six restaurants are all I have asked.  That's 100%!  I hope to get free dinners form 15 to 20 restaurants in all.  Remember, every runner that raises or donates $100 in addition to the entry fee will automatically be entered.  If anyone raises in excess of $1,000 then we will give one of the packages to the person that raises the most money. So Get Busy and "hit-up" a few friends and family members for donations or just ask them to sponsor you.  Ask for $1.00 pre mile you run.

I have decided I do not like the idea of no T-Shirts with entry fees.  I am going to order race shirts for every one that enters any of the races.  I will not order any extras so preregistered runners will be the only people receiving shirts at the race.  We will order shirts for those that sigh up race day but it will take a while to get them to you.  These shirts will not be  the shirts I am offering for sale.  They will be the usual screen printed tech shirts with all the sponsors listed on the back.

The shirts for sale for $20.00 are very nice, fitted, tech shirts printed by Nduranc.  Nduranc prints with a revolutionary technique that transfers the design directly into the fabric of the shirt.  You can't feel the printed image at all.  The tech fabric still wicks as it is supposed to, even under the printing.  These shirts will have the race logo and race distance printed on them.  No sponsor names will be printed on the shirt.

Online Registration Opens October 31, 2011

Everything is now set for the 2012 Run for Kids Challenge.  Online registration will open October 31st and 12:00 AM.  The start and finish will be on the road in  front of the Cedar Pavilion at the far south end of Double Oak Lake.  Please see the map on the website.

Entry fees will be $ 75.00 for the 12 hour run and $ 50.00 for the 50K race.  The 50 K Relay will be $25.00 per runner.  Any runners in high school or lower grades or 17 years of age or younger, the entry fee is $10.00 per runner.  Each relay team may consist of  from 4 to 10 runners.  The above  prices do not include shirts.  We are offering great shirts this year from a company called "nduranc" but these shirts are substantially more expensive than the average running shirt given away at races.  Each shirt will cost us $25.00 to purchase but we will offer them at $20.00 each to runners.  I purchased one of the shirts to try and it is great.  Read about their printing process at their website, nduranc.com.  Below is a brief bit of information about what makes their shirts so good.

All shirt graphics are printed with Green Friendly inks.  Unlike toxic silk screening, our process transfers you text and graphics directly into the fabric's fibers.  Your design will have no feel, add no weight and attract zero heat.  Our digital process maintains 100% of a tech shirt's breathability and performance.

Race Date Set - May 5, 2012

The 2012 Run for Kids Challenge will be held on May 5th next year at Oak Mountain State Park in Birmingham, Alabama.  The run will follow the new "Lake Trail" which circles Double Oak Lake.  This is the swimming and canoeing lake and is located near the south end of the 10,000 acre park.  Follow the link below to the Run for Kids Challenge website.

Run for Kids Challenge 2012

I really like having the Run for Kids on Memorial Day Weekend.  I selected the date originally because the race was to be held at Veteran's Park and I thought Memorial Day was appropriate.  I was very concerned about the crowds that runners would have to deal with during the day but that proved to be no problem.  Birmingham went from setting record low temperatures just over a week before the race to record high temperatures on race day.  The heat cleared the park.

By moving to Oak Mountain, even if it is hot, the park will still be crowded.  The beach area at the park is crowded all summer but especially when it is hot and Memorial Day is the single busiest day of the year .  The run would not created a problem for the park and park superintendent, Mike Jeffreys has given up approval for the run.  The problem is the crowds will interfere with the runners.  Memorial Day weekend there will be cars and people everywhere along the south side of Double Oak Lake.

We have decided to move the race to an earlier weekend in May.  I prefer May 19th. but that is the weekend the Oak Mountain Xterra Race has been held in the past.  We are trying to find someone with Xterra that knows the schedule for next year.  Tentatively, the date that looks best in May,5th.  Of course, we would have to serve Margarita's at the aid station and all runners would have to wear sombreros.

I am adding a new twist to the race this year.  I want to encourage runners to raise additional donations to Camp Smile-A-Mile by asking friends and family to sponsor them.  For example, a 50K entrant might suggest a donation of $1.00 for each kilometer run, or even per lap, (That is only $10 if they finish.)   We are putting together a package of gift certificates to area restaurants and businesses that the person that can raise the most in donations will receive.  We may also have a drawing for all runners that raise additional donations.