Selfless Elf 2014 Recap

Photos by OHventures and the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank

"It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving." - Mother Teresa

The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank has done it again with their 2nd Annual Selfless Elf 5K run in downtown Akron! 

The Selfless Elf 5K is quickly becoming one of my favorites, mainly due to how much I care about the local foodbank, which has recently been named as the BEST foodbank in the entire country. The theme behind the run is, on the surface, lighthearted and whimsical, with people of all ages decked out in holiday garb (most of which were elven in nature of course). 

However, there is a much deeper and more meaningful underlying theme of the race, which was to think of the less fortunate during the holiday season, and to give selflessly (get it?) to help fight hunger in the area. 

The race took place at 8AM on Saturday morning, December 20, 2014. The good thing was that there was no rain, but the bummer was that there was no snow. Like on Christmas Day, snow adds lots to the excitement of a holiday themed run!

Unfortunately, I misplaced my elf ears that I wore in last year's run. But, thankfully, all runners receive elf socks for registering. I threw those on, along with my Santa hat, to get in the festive spirit. I also wore a t-shirt from work, to match the others in our "Young Professionals" group that just started this fall. Being the Volunteer/Service Board Chair of the YPs, I organized our group to get together to help the cause.

Some members of our YP group gathered for a quick photo (below) with "Olaf" (of Disney's "Frozen," of course), and we gathered at the start line located on Opportunity Parkway in downtown Akron.

In addition to current co-workers, I was also treated to seeing former co-workers from Columbus, like my friend Mike (photo below) at the race. We had been wanting to do an event together for a long while, and finally got the chance to do so, since he is from the Akron area and was home for the holidays.

Mike & I kept a very gentle pace of approximately 9 minutes/mile (at my pique, I was doing 7:30 minute/miles). Lately I have been taking it rather slowly in my races (Gobble Wobble, Christmas Story Run), because I have not been practicing as much lately in between official races. My theory is: "no matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch." 

Mike & Mike - Elf Selfies!!

The event was a HUGE success - with hundreds and hundreds of selfless elves flooding the city streets all to raise money and awareness for the hungry in Northeast Ohio. Hats (and ears) off to all of those at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank for making this a reality!