Sun, Dec 6, 2026
La Jolla, CA
Entry is $18 now and rises to $25 after Nov 24, 2026, so registering before then saves $7.
The Festival of Lights Run is a Hanukkah-themed race in La Jolla, with several distance options to suit different goals. The shorter fun run is open to walkers, while the longer distances draw runners looking for a timed effort. Age divisions span a wide range, from young kids through runners well into their eighties.
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Going by the 2025 results, this is a small, friendly field, and the spread of finish times is wide, so this is a mostly recreational race rather than one for club runners.
5K · 2025 results
Top 3: Kate Pendergraph (18:06) · Emilio DeSoto III (18:37) · M. DeSoto (19:08)
1 Miles · 2025 results
Top 3: Joshua Kheder (9:10) · heston Killip (9:15) · H. Weinrib (10:07)
10K · 2025 results
Top 3: Stephen Baker (35:32) · Ben Schenk (38:44) · Jordan Kurland (42:31)
The Festival Of Lights Run has been held every year since at least 2025. 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.
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Almost certainly not. Half the 5K field finished slower than 34:58, and the last recorded finisher came in around 1:13:26, 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 (73 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 18:06 while the median finisher took 34:58. That spread points to a broad, mostly recreational field rather than a race dominated by club runners.
