The Sunburst Races in South Bend, Indiana have something for all the family - a marathon, a half marathon, a 10K, a 5K and a family walk - seriously, they have everything. More than 2,000 runners and walkers participate in all of the races, so they have everybody, too!

The Sunburst Races are held every year. In 2009, it will be their 26th year. They start every year's events with the Friday Night Family Walk. Like it says, it's a walk for the whole family (baby strollers and baby joggers welcome), and everybody who participates gets a Family Walk t-shirt. This is one of the few walks left in the country that still allows headphones, but organizers caution participants to be careful as they really don't want to scrape you up off the street later! (BTW, headphones are not allowed on the marathon or half marathon.)

On Saturday, the more serious events begin. The marathon starts at the College Football Hall of Fame (Notre Dame, of course) and is run on a pretty flat course with only one half-mile incline and a couple of minor hills.

The half marathon follows the marathon's first three miles but then veers off into Keller Park, finishing the race back on the marathon's course and on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. And participants in both races get cool t-shirts. The 5K, 10K and the fitness walk all start between 7:15 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Sunburst does a great job with services too. There are tons of water stations, Gatorade fluid replacement stations, energy gel is available on the course, and they even hand out bananas for that all-important potassium. But the best bit of all: there is massage therapy provided at the finish line by massage therapy students from Davenport University. I'd throw on my running shoes and run in any marathon if I had massage therapy to look forward to at the end of it.

The Sunburst Races also has awesome finish line food (last year provided by Meijer supermarkets,) and there was everything!

I really like the Sunburst Races. Indiana is one of the prettiest American states, I think, with its rolling hills, green fields and clear blue skies. When these races start early in the morning, you really feel like you're running in nature, so it's worth running one just so you can feel that. Right?

I'm a huge kid advocate, having worked at tons of children's nonprofits in my professional fundraising career. So, when I saw a notice advertising the Run Wild For A Child 10K and 5K runs/walks in San Francisco, it really grabbed my attention.

The Run Wild For A Child 10K/5K runs are not only very fun runs; they're also a cool time to donate toys! The runs benefit the San Francisco Firefighters' toy drive. On race day, there will be drop offs to donate a new toy or a book for SF area disadvantaged kids, and proceeds from the race go to the toy drive. The toy drive distributes more than 200,000 toys every year to over 40,000 kids. They also help out kids all year long who are displaced because of fires, floods, earthquakes or any other natural disaster.

The Run Wild For A Child 10K/5K runs are held every year on Thanksgiving weekend. The runs start at JFK Drive and ends at Golden Gate Park. What could be more perfect than running early in the morning in beautiful Golden Gate Park and overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge? I mean, come on, you'd have to be a philistine not to think that was gorgeous.

But the coolest thing for me about this race is you can dress up as your favorite toy for the "Favorite Childhood Toy" costume competition. If I was running this year, I'd dress up as Winnie the Pooh (okay, maybe not - might be a bit too hot and heavy a costume to run in,) or as someone with superpowers like Wonder Woman. (That would help win the race, right?)

The race will be held this year on November 30, 2008, and starts at 8:30 a.m. You have two choices of entrance fee; either a straight $30 entrance fee, which will put you in the race, or a $50 fee with 20 bucks of that going directly to the toy drive. Come on, it's almost Christmas. Fork over your 50 bucks and help some kids have a nice Christmas. Christmas is for kids and these 10k/5k runs will help some of them have a great holiday.