The Dorchester Running Club’s fourth annual Halfway to Dot Day 5k Road Race will start at 9 a.m. on Dec. 8,, sending runners along the paths of the Pope John Paul II Park.  The club began hosting the event in 2015 as another means of giving back the community and it has grown successfully in the following years. 

This year, the club will again partner with the Boston Police Athletic League and collect donations of unwrapped toys for the Mayor’s Toy Drive. Along the race route, runners will find carolers and festively adorned water stops to keep spirits up. And there’s a new addition to this year’s run in the form of Soul Train, an organization that works with Boston Public Schools to run with young people, empowering them and exploring the concepts of setting and achieving personal goals. 

“So we’ve invited hundreds of them to run with us, and we’ve created a new sponsorship that’s specifically for that because we’re having them run for free,” said Stefanie O’Shea, the board president of the club. “So, we’re allowing our sponsors to donate  to cover the running, and we’re excited to have that.”

O’Shea, a Pope’s Hill resident, said that the race organizers have always enjoyed inviting and working with young people, and they moved to expand on that this year. “We want to include everyone from every part of the city, including young people who may be at an economic disadvantage and don’t see running as a hobby like we do, and don’t have access to running as an option for them,” she said. 

For O’Shea and other members of the Dorchester Running Club, running is a “lifeline,” a connection to the community that they cannot wait to share with young people, and everyone else who registers for the upcoming 5K.  She stressed that participants don’t have to be fast runners, or ever runners at all, because “we love having our big group of people that walk, and so we encourage people to do that.” 

Those interested in participating in the Halfway to Dot Day 5k Road Race can register at racewire.com. Entry fee for adults and teenagers is $20; children age 12 and under can run for free as long as they donate an unwrapped toy.