At Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, we are always looking for ways to reach new audiences and expand our quest to find a cure for all childhood cancers. Our foray into running events was one of those new ventures that literally took steps to reach a new and (athletic) audience in 2009. After much success, and two annual events in Philadelphia, we are pleased to say that The Lemon Run will run into Kansas City and San Diego in 2011, and of course the Philly event will also return this fall.

Kicking off the fall of festive runs will be the Max’s Ring of Fire Lemon Run in San Diego on Sunday, September 25, 2011. You may be wondering, why is the San Diego version of our run entitled the Max’s Ring of Fire Lemon Run? Well, if you live in the San Diego area, you may be familiar with the charity Max’s Ring of Fire, or MROF. Like our foundation, MROF was started by the parents of a young childhood cancer fighter. Andy and Melissa Mikulak started the nonprofit to honor of their late son Max, a courageous inspiration who was diagnosed with the disease at the age of three and battled hard for four years until the age of seven. Their foundation is now dedicated to working with cancer researchers and oncologists to speed up discoveries of potentially life-saving new drugs for children with relapsed neuroblastoma to find innovative, low toxicity, treatments through funding of clinical trials and other research. After holding their own run in San Diego in years past, we decided to team up to host the Max’s Ring of Fire Lemon Run this year! This run is a bit longer than the Philadelphia event, seeing participants run or walk 4.6 miles! We hope to gather together supporters of the childhood cancer community, both of MROF and ALSF - if you’re in the area, we hope you will join us too!

Next up will be the 5K Lemon Run Kansas City, slated for October 2, 2011 in Waterfall Park in Independence, Missouri. The Kansas City community has been integral to the success of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, supporting the foundation dating back to Alex’s million dollar mission in 2004. Since that time, the Kansas City Grand Stand has been among the top fundraisers, coming in second for Grand Stand fundraising overall, only behind Alex’s “Original” Lemonade Stand. We are excited to engage the KC community with this Lemon Run 5K, and are sure that KC athletes and supporters alike will get behind it.

Finally, The Lemon Run will return to its home, Philadelphia, on November 13, 2011. We are looking forward to having the best year yet and returning to Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.

For those athletes who are not in the San Diego, Kansas City or Philadelphia areas, you can always join us on these days as a virtual runner in your neighborhood. Just pick a course of equal distance, sign up, fundraise, and know that you will be running with other ALSF supporters that day. You can also join Team Lemon and run in area events in support of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation!

>> Learn how to train for a 5K here!

Of course, in addition to raising funds and awareness for childhood cancer, all of the Lemon Runs are a great way to get your family and friends involved in a team effort. Funds are raised just from signing up and running the race, but why not honor a childhood cancer fighter, or family member who battled cancer by raising funds in their name? You could also challenge family members or even coworkers to do the same! Maybe even approach someone who would never consider running in a race, and make it a friendly competition. The most important thing to remember is that big things start with small actions, involving your friends and family can turn your individual effort into a team effort!

We are excited to expand out athletic events, and the Lemon Run is just the beginning. Why not battle childhood cancer and get healthy too!