New Year’s Day 5k Hot Chocolate Run
About this race
It’s Back in 2026!
2018 was bitterly cold.
2019 was warm and inviting.
2020 was a bit windy.
2021 went virtual.
2022 came with a torrential downpour.
2023 brought a little chill.
2024 leaned warmer again.
2025 was beautiful...
What will 2026 bring?
Whatever the weather, you're guaranteed one thing: a chocolate-scented shirt to commemorate your post-holiday hustle!
Join us for the Almost-Famous New Year's Day Hot Chocolate 5K Run—a feel-good, community-powered event that benefits the Minds in Motion Children's Museum. Start the year with fun, fitness, and purpose as we raise funds to bring an innovative, play-based learning space to Salisbury, Maryland.
About the Cause:
Minds in Motion Children’s Museum was founded by local families and educators to inspire children through exploration, creativity, and hands-on discovery. While the pandemic slowed us down, our board has been hard at work behind the scenes. Thanks to our generous supporters, we’re launching the museum in phases—more exciting updates will be shared at the race!
Race Details:
📍 Location: Trails surrounding Salisbury City Park and the Zoo, near the river
🛤️ Course: Mostly crushed gravel trails—flat, scenic, and fast! Some roots and rocks may be present, so plan accordingly.
💧 Aid Station: Water and snacks around mile 1.5
🍫 Finish Line: Water and Dunkin' Donuts hot chocolate with all the fixings
🎽 Swag: Chocolate-scented T-shirt included—guaranteed for those registered by December 1
🏆 Awards: Overall and age group winners receive HUGE mugs!
Bring the whole family out to run, cheer, or sip cocoa! Whether you're chasing a PR or just your kids, this is a great way to ring in 2026.
Questions?
Contact Race Director Vira Ogburn at Vira@mindsinmotionsby.org
Pick your distance
Running
New Year’s Day 5k Hot Chocolate Run
SO excited to see all of those fit families with 2026 goals in mind! Here is your 2026 packet pick up information: Greetings 2026 Runners, We will have The New Year’s Day Hot Chocolate 5k Run packet pickup on Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 at Dunkin’ Donuts located at: 298 Tilghman Road Salisbury, MD 21804 (next to McDonald's) from 9:00 am until 11 am. You can also pick up your packet on race day starting at 11:00 am on race day. Race T-shirts: **You will only receive a fresh smelling hot chocolate t-shirt if you registered for the Hot Chocolate 5k. We ordered a maximum number of shirt sizes so that once you registered, it would automatically subtract from our total. IF you would like to order additional shirts, it is while supplies last. We will also have last year's shirts for sale at packet pick up (December 31st). Parking: Park anywhere near the park or across the street. Race Day: Rain, shine or snow, the race will start promptly at 1 pm beginning and ending at the white bridge in The Salisbury Park. If you didn't pick up your bib on New Year's Eve at DD, you can start arriving any time after 11 am. There will also be same day registration. We will have portable potties, complimentary of A.S.A.P Service Corp. There will be fresh hot cocoa, complimentary of Dunkin Donuts. There will also be an amazing hot cocoa bar and snacks at the finish line! Aid Station: During the race, there will be one aid station at 1.5 miles. Medals/Chip-Timing: Medals will be given to the top 3 runners both male/female of each of our age groups. The overall top 3 runners will win mugs thank you to Amused Studios. We will continue having random raffle drawings complimentary of several local businesses that we will shout out on our Instagram page (follow us on mindsinmotionsby). We will also shout out to the rest of our amazing sponsors via email as well as Instagram. Special thanks to TCR Event Management. They will be doing our chip-timing and making sure our event runs smoothly. You should have results as soon as you cross the finish line. 1 miler: 1 milers will start at 1:05, after the 5k and will NOT be chip timed. Small Disclaimer: We apologize for the inconvenience of not being able to access Facebook in this season. Our account was hacked so by default we can't access our business page nor our Hot Chocolate 5k running group page- we still do have access to Instagram and our posts make it to our Facebook through that. Hopefully we will get this resolved as it has been some time since we have had access! You could also join our https://www.facebook.com/groups/1459186047542321 Continue to look for race emails and tell your running friends to check their spam/junk mail. If you have registered, you will get an email from me, I promise! Most importantly, I hope you have the most amazing holiday season! I am so excited to see you all on New Year's Day! Thank you all for your support!! Merry Christmas, Vira Ogburn vira@mindsinmotionsby.org
1 mile fun run
Free but you must register! :)
Hot Chocolate 10K
Typical race-day weather
Based on 8 years of Open-Meteo archive data for this event's race dates in Salisbury, plus the 3 days either side.
The sun rises at 7:19 AM and sets at 4:52 PM local time (EST) in Salisbury on January 1, 2027 — 9h 33m of daylight.
Course
No course map published yet.
The organizer hasn't released a route for this event, and we don't publish guesses. If you're the organizer, send us a GPX file and we'll draw the profile.
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Results — New Year’s Day 5k Hot Chocolate Run
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🏃 Plan Your Next Race in Salisbury
Find upcoming events by distance:
- Salisbury 5K Races 14 races
- Salisbury Running Calendar 2026 15 races
Where this page comes from. Race details were last updated on . We re-check listings regularly and again in the week before race day.
- Entries, prices, waves and inclusions — the event's official registration page
- Temperature and humidity — Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)
- Elevation and terrain relief — Copernicus DEM GLO-90, ESA (CC BY 4.0)
- Comparisons and counts — Race Discovery calendar, 15 Salisbury events
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