Sat, Sep 12, 2026
Seattle, WA
The race takes place at Warren G. Magnuson Park, a large lakeside park on Seattle's eastern edge. The event is organized around a mental health advocacy foundation, and the crowd reflects that: people come to support a cause as much as to cover the distance. Those who cannot attend in person can participate remotely from their own neighborhood or park.
Free race emails
In for this one or still deciding, keep race season near Seattle on your radar: a Monday look ahead and a Thursday rundown of the weekend's races.
Two helpful emails per week. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Going by the 2025 results, this is a small, friendly field, and the field is fairly quick, so expect a competitive front.
5K · 2025 results
Top 3: Anne Rothert (29:37) · Anne Rothert (29:39) · Jeannine Wicker (29:41)
The Annual Zia Larson Ray of Light Foundation 5K has been held every year since at least 2023. That is as far back as RunSignup's records for this race go, so it may well be older.
Enter a finish time to see where it lands against the most recent 5K results.
How we calculate these stats: RunSesh calculates these figures from the most recent published results of past editions, sourced from RunSignup. We show aggregates only: field size, winning and median times, and the cutoff. We never publish individual finisher tables. Last updated Sep 10, 2026.
Set a goal and get a pace band: every mile split on a card sized for your phone lock screen, so race morning needs no math.
Traveling for this race? The map shows hotels and rentals in and around Seattle — pan or zoom to compare what's nearby.
The map is provided by Stay22. If you book through it, RunSesh may earn a commission at no extra cost to you — it never affects the races we list.
Almost certainly not. Half the 5K field finished slower than 30:24, and the last recorded finisher came in around 47:55, so there is a long tail of runners behind the middle of the pack. Most fields are far slower than people expect.
It is a small race (15 finishers), which is friendlier and less intimidating than a big-city event, though the field thins out. There is no qualifying time, and the finish-time spread above shows how varied the field really is. If it is your first 5K, that spread matters more than the winner's time.
The 5K winner ran 29:37 while the median finisher took 30:24. That spread points to a relatively quick field, so expect a competitive front end.
Join a local run club. Club Northwest, Seattle Running Club, West Seattle Running Club and others in Seattle welcome runners of all paces, and a weekly group run is the most reliable way to hold a training block together.
