Kris Kringle 5-Mile Run 2025—Rescheduled for Sunday, April 12

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Just a reminder that our rescheduled Kris Kringle 5-Mile Run is coming up on Sunday, April 12!

We’re still looking for volunteers to help make race day a success, so if you’re available, please contact Michelle Henry at mhenry.pacers@gmail.com with your availability and preferred role. If you’re planning to run, there are still opportunities to help before or after the race as well.

If you’ve always wanted to run Kris Kringle but weren’t too excited about a December start line, this may be your best (and possibly only) chance to run it in much friendlier weather. So if you’re interested in running but haven’t registered yet—or know someone who might want to join us—online registration is open until April 6 at 11:59 PM. Be sure to sign up and help spread the word.

click to register!

Please note: because this is the 2025 race, it does not count toward the 2026 PPAC Passport.

Registration Open and Volunteers Needed for “Girls on the Run” at Penn State Berks on May 16!

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Girls on the Run Berks is excited to announce that registration for our Spring 5K Celebration at Penn State Berks is now open!

Join us on Saturday, May 16, at 8 a.m. as we celebrate a joyful and meaningful season with the girls in our program. This end-of-season event is a powerful moment where participants experience the confidence and accomplishment that come from setting and achieving a goal.

Register by April 24 to receive standard pricing:
https://www.pinwheel.us/r/2ogqDJm

We are also looking for volunteers to help make this event a memorable experience for everyone involved. Opportunities include course marshals, cheer squads, and more—each role plays an important part in creating a positive and encouraging atmosphere along the course.

Interested in volunteering? Sign up here:
https://www.pinwheel.us/r/irmSBJj

We look forward to having you join us as we support and celebrate the girls in our community as they discover joy, confidence, and strength through running.

Next Membership Meeting: 4/9/26

by pagodapacers

Tobias Frogg Berks
2613 Hampden Blvd, Reading, PA 19604
Food at 6:30 PM | Meeting at 7:00 PM

Come early, grab a drink, stay after—it’s easy to chat, catch up, and socialize as a club before and after business. And if you need to skidaddle right after the meeting, that’s OK too.

Please remember to RSVP no later than Sunday, April 5!

Here’s your April RSVP link: https://forms.gle/EKmSaf1njUN6e5vB6

Minutes from the Monthly Meeting (March 12, 2026)

by pagodapacers

Pagoda Pacer A.C. Monthly Membership Meeting

Thursday, March 12th, 2026

Tobias Frogg:  2613 Hampden Blvd.  Reading

Michelle Henry presided

Jennifer Pierdomenico recorded minutes

26 members in attendance

CALL TO ORDER at 7:00 pm

Minutes from the February meeting were accepted as posted.

REPORTS

Treasurer Report (Shaun Luther)

  • Balance is $81,440 which is ~95% of target
  • Shiver expenses make up 99% of past month’s payments
  • Starting to get in Run for the Ages & Blues Cruise registrations
  • Club taxes to be filed by next meeting.

Scholarship Committee (Katie Beane)

  • Total of 11 applications have been received, and the committee will meet next week to determine scholarship recipients.
    • Club members 4
    • Non-club members 7

Social Updates 

  • Wine & Cheese (Lisa Domeshek)
    • Saturday September 26th
  • Bike Ride (Michelle & Caroline)
    • Narrowing down dates and have final date next month.

Kris Kringle (Lisa Domeshek)

  • Race is set for Sunday 4/12 and volunteer sign-up sheet passed around during the meeting.  Contact Michelle or Lisa if you want to volunteer.  Set-up will occur on race day this time (rather than the day prior).

South Mountain ThrowDown Lite (Brandon Beane)

OLD BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Healthy Kids Running Series looking for volunteers. Information can be found at this link: Healthy Kids Running Series Spring 2026 – Reading, PA

Gift of Life Donor Bash on April 26th.  Information can be found at this link:

29th Annual Gift of Life Donor Dash – Campaign

MEETING ADJOURNED at 8:12 pm

Next Away Game: Buzzard on 4/18/26

by pagodapacers

This month’s Away Game will feature the iconic “Baby Buzzard” course, north of Hershey. This is the most challenging group run that we do each year: 16 tough miles in the mountains with a ton of climbing and a “non-trivial” water crossing. Bring nutrition, hydration, first aid, and a sense of adventure.

We’ll meet at the Buzzard Trailhead at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 18.

Ambitious runners who want to tackle the Full Buzzard Marathon course (at their own risk) are welcomed to start with us as long as they are comfortable navigating the course on their own.

Post-run lunch spot will be at Snitz Creek Brewey in Annville. Follow the Facebook event for updates, carpooling requests, etc.

Hope you can join us!

South Mountain ThrowDown Lite*

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This year we’re keeping it simple on purpose. Think of this as a grassroots test run for something bigger. We have the property, we have the loop, and we want to test it out on a smaller scale before rolling out a full 24-hour event next year.

For the 2026 Lite* version—scheduled for Saturday, April 25—you’ll have 10 hours to stack loops on a short, repeatable course featuring one honest climb per loop. Run one lap, run all day, come to chase vert, or just hang in the woods with friends.

While this won’t be a full-blown event, we will have aid available. $15 covers property use, basic aid, and logistics. No awards. No frills. Just dirt, vert, and good people.

Come help us build the foundation for next year’s 24-hour South Mountain ThrowDown

click to register!

The Course

The loop utilizes South Mountain YMCA’s Peak Side trails, consisting of a mix of dirt, grass, and gravel trails. The course starts at the old carriage house and winds through the woods on dirt and grass trails before arriving to one substantial climb that ends at the Cushion Peak overlook. From the overlook, runners will have a meandering gravel road to follow back down to the old fountain steps and the start/finish. The total loop is approximately 2.5 miles with 660 feet of climb.

Race Day & Other Details

This year’s event will take place on Saturday, April 25 and is limited to 100 runners.

Check in: 8 am
Runners off: 9 am

Runners must finish the final lap before the 7PM finish time in order for the lap to count.

Spectators are welcome, and there will be space at the start/finish for pop-ups and crews. Those not racing can cheer on their friends and family, walk up to the Cushion Peak overlook, or enjoy a round of frisbee golf. Pacers will not be permitted for this year’s event.

Also… no camping this year; however, it is in the plans for the future 24-hour event.

register

36th Shiver by the River Recap

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The 36th Shiver by the River is complete!!!! We had 713 finishers throughout the 4 races, with 162 runners completing the series. In looking at all of the months, our fastest runners for the series were 5K: Aiden Igielski (17:32, January race); Ty Diaz-Cruz (19:29, March race); and 10K: Jonathan Thrush (32:02, December make-up race); Ty Diaz-Cruz (41:57, January race). We thank every runner and volunteer who joined us! We are always appreciative of everyone that joins us, but this series was difficult, with the December race postponed for a few weeks and an arctic blast in Feb. We can’t thank you enough for your support. Runners remember, though; it’s on those terrible weather days that you get the best finish place!!!!

In March we had 147 5K runners and 57 10K runners. Congratulations to the top M/F 5K runners, Charles Fries (17:50) and Ty Diaz-Cruz (19:29); and the top 10K M/F runners, David Hitesman (37:40) and Stephanie Bender (42:44).  

Results for each race, plus the series results, can be found on pagodapacers.com. Awards that were not picked up at the banquet are at Fleet Feet (705 Penn Ave, West Reading) and can be picked up any time during normal business hours until April 10th.

Special thanks to Elaine & Alan Cook, and Michael Whalen, who brought the Pacer trailer to the races. This is such a huge help!!! 

As always, THANK YOU to all the Pacers who participated either by running, volunteering, or both! We sincerely appreciate all of our volunteers, whether you helped us at one race or every race, whether you have helped us for years, or whether this was the first time you volunteered for Shiver. Everyone was so willing to do whatever was needed to make this series another success! I don’t want to mention specific names for fear of forgetting someone, but volunteers, you know who you are, and runners, you know who they are – you see so many of the same volunteers parking cars, at the water stop, at the same registration table, at the same intersection, or inside the farmhouse supplying soup, pretzels, and various snacks.  THANK YOU!!!!!!!  

The awards ceremony was again held at the Temple Fire Company, in Muhlenberg Township.  THANK YOU to the following for the donation of door prizes:  

Redner’s

Fleet Feet

Joanne Patti 

Victor Emmanuel 

Rose Hagy

Pretzel City Sports

Tom Sturgis

Alecia Bradley

Tiffany Pantoja

Judy Anttonen

Yuriko Beaman

Donna Hey

Aaron Kreider

THANK YOU to our sponsors:  

Dieffenbach’s

Thank you to Fleet Feet not only for their door prize donations, but they also donated Gift Cards to our overall Male/Female winners.

Please contact Sue Jackson at shiverdirector@pagodapacers.com if any door prize donors were missed.

If anyone has any comments, concerns, or questions concerning the series, please contact one of the race directors. We value your input, and we read the surveys, making modifications when possible.   

We have already begun preparations for next year. Jim Dietrich Park is reserved for the 2nd Sunday in Dec, Jan, Feb and March; and Temple Fire Co is reserved for the 2nd Sunday in March.  We’ve started conversations about swag for next year. We hope to see everyone next year, and bring a friend!!!!!!!

Sue, Georgine & Tiffany

Wednesday Night Runs (April ’26 Locations)

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Our mid-week group runs have at least two different distance options (3-4 miles and 5-6 miles) with an appointed leader for at least one of the two routes. Each run will have its own Facebook “event,” and the routes will be posted a couple days before the run. After each run, those who can will stick around for food, drink, and good conversation, either at a nearby restaurant or a club member’s residence. Come for the run; stay (if you can) for the fellowship. (If you don’t have time to stick around, no worries—just come run with us!)

All runs start at 6:15 p.m.

This is the end of the April ’26 Newsletter. Continue scrolling if you would like to view older content.

Dr. StrangeBurrito, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Loop

by pagodapacers

As many of you know, I hate road running. For me, a single mile stretches into eternity and, while power-hiking is a staple in the woods, walking up a hill feels wrong on the roads. (I still do it; I just feel guilty about it.) So how did I find myself running countless loops around a single quarter mile block in West Reading for half of January?

This year Burrito League* came to West Reading, thanks to the great folks at Fleet Feet (plus Comalli Taqueria and MountToCoast for donating prizes), and I ended up loving it more than I ever thought possible. The first day of the “challenge” I ran about 6 miles with fellow Pacer Brandon Beane, and as we finished our last loop, I joked that even running 10 feet into the next loop we were halfway done and might as well finish another. It’s wild how prophetic those words came to be.

One of the things I love most about running is the meditative state one can achieve. On a good day, miles blend seamlessly into the next; on a great day, miles blend seamlessly into the next, you feel good the entire time, your soundtrack doesn’t have a misstep, and you get to see some beautiful scenery along the way. I have a very hard time getting out of my own head when I’m pounding the pavement, but remarkably, doing 600 Burrito Loops was not the repetitive drag I anticipated; rather, it became a thoughtless, relaxing trance. (Sorry, I’m going to humble brag right now… or maybe not so humble…but if you didn’t do the math, I want to point out 600 loops is ~150 miles around the same quarter mile block, over the course of two weeks.) 😉

When I wasn’t zen-fully zoned out, there were so many community members cheering me on. I cannot emphasize enough how fantastic the staff at Fleet Feet is; they were/are so encouraging and welcoming. (It’s also never a bad thing to have an aid station every quarter mile.) I made friends in the most unexpected places, whether it be employees at the funeral home, bars on the block, residents in the alley, or the Sisco man making his weekly restaurant delivery. I was surprised by how many people were watching me run endless loops around this single block, and while they didn’t necessarily understand the compulsion to run during some of the coldest weather we faced this year, they were supportive, nonetheless.  

Saying it’s been hard to get out on the trails this winter would be a huge understatement. Burrito League gave me something to look forward to during some of the roughest times. I ran plenty of loops with long-time running friends, but also met and ran with awesome people I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. (Shout out to Brandon & Curtis, who each did a crazy number of loops, and Alex, who took the unofficial win with 700 loops.)

I know Thomas, Jason, and the whole Fleet Feet crew have some big plans in mind for next year, so if you get a chance and feel like getting a little loopy, keep Burrito League on your calendar. Even if you don’t go all in, just a few loops with like-minded people can be a wonderful reminder of why we run in the first place. I highly recommend it.