GET your running shoes!!   The Patriots’ Path Council 5K is off and running!

Units, raise funds that will count towards your units FOS Goal!!

Go to this link and sign up today and run before June 5^th:

https://scoutingevent.com/358-5K

You can enter your time when you finish your run.   For those not sure how to set up a home course here are a few tips from our Chairman, Mike Murray.

Equipment needed: something that can reliably measure 100 feet (like a 100-foot extension cord), lap markers (I suggest light items like bingo chips or pencil stubs), course markers (paper slips big enough to hold some pebbles or cones), a collection bowl (like a sand pail), and a timer (or wristwatch).

Welcome to a virtual 5k run.  You have an adventure ahead of you and my goal would make your course set up easy and provide a simple and fun event in a “Do your best!” view.   SO … let’s go.

Road Course: In late May and early June, you could reapply a 5k course that may exist near you OR run 12 and a half laps on a 400-meter track.   You can consider a previously used course, but when that course was used, the roads were closed to traffic.  Be careful.

You could even do a measured course with a car odometer.  In a point-to-point course, you’ll add a little distance (12 yards) beyond 3.1 miles.  In an “out and back” course, you can make your 180 degrees turn 282 feet beyond the 1.5-mile point (short of three (3) extension cord lengths).

Existing tracks:   Om a 1/4-mile track, you can do 12 full laps plus 188 yards.  To keep it simple, that’s just 32 yards or 96 feet short of the 220-yard mark.  Use the 100-foot cord to find and mark your adjusted start line.

Your own track: I’ve used my own track on grass and in the shade at a park nearby.  The 5K is 16404.199 feet.  The 0.199 feet is about 2 1/2 inches, or less than a shoe width.  A 400-foot track would need a stride or two over 41 laps to get to 5k and an 800-foot track would need about 20 and 1/2 laps for the distance.

Make the track: You can nark out the course with weighted paper or cones. Start with the straightaways. I’d suggest that the two straightaways be parallel and at least 30 feet apart so that you can keep your pace through the turns at either end (the J’s).   For the 800-foot track, use three full cord lengths and make the fourth into a J shape for each side.   For the 400-foot track, use one full cord length and make the second into a J shape for each side.

As the track gets shorter, your lap count will go up, so a pocketful of bingo markers may be a light way to let yourself know when you are done.  Just place a big bucket or tray at your finish line and make a drop as you go past.  I would suggest starting with a partial lap (if any) and that keeps your finish line in a fixed spot.

Thanks for supporting Patriots Path Council.   Be safe and be well.

Enjoy the 5k.