By David Freeze

This weekend is the last one off for the next month. We’ve got races in a bunch of places, and one of them is an exciting new one. In what has evolved as the busiest time of the year, look for eight races in the next seven weeks. Here is more information on the first five.

Two great Halloween choices are first up. The St. Matthews 5K and Fun Run is the first race on Saturday morning, Oct. 28. The race is on a fast rural course that benefits church members who are battling serious illness.

The Rowan Rotary has the Spooky Sprint 5K and Fun Run at Catawba College on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 29. This race is known for its costume contests, including kids and adults, all for extra fun. The track finish concludes another fast course.

The new race for our area is the Donuts for Dollars 5K presented by GNC. This race benefits the Salisbury Police Foundation, providing for the needs of officers and staff that are not funded by the City of Salisbury. Packet pickup for the races, including a kid’s fun run, will be at the GNC store on Nov. 3. The race will use the Tinseltown parking lot and proceed out to Bendix Drive. It’s a two-loop course so spectators will get plenty of opportunities to see their runners.

The following week, on Nov. 11, has the Clean Water 5K and Fun Run at Grace Lutheran Church. The race supports the Lutheran Church’s global clean water ministry. The Clean Water 5K is the only local race with freshly made hush puppies at the end.

And finally, on the next day, Nov. 12, the Girls on the Run will have close to 1,000 runners participate in the GOTR Celebration 5K, commemorating the completion of the fall series of classes. Each graduate has a running buddy, and there is a competitive 5K for community runners. All this happens at Salisbury Community Park, starting at 2 p.m.

Ahead are Salisbury’s largest 5K, The Forum’s Butterball 5K on Thanksgiving morning. Then comes the Freeze Your Buns 5K on Dec. 2 in Spencer and Santa’s Run for Hunger 5K at Sloan Park on Dec. 9.

Over the last few weeks, several world records have been set in international marathon races. Part of the equation concerns me. Adidas has produced a shoe in competition with the Nike Alpha Fly, the carbon fiber shoes that are extremely expensive.

Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa wore Adidas Adizero shoes to set a new women’s marathon world record in Berlin on Sept. 23, and they are on sale now. Adidas, Nike and other sports brands have been locked in a “supershoe” war for the last few years. These running shoes contain a thick, shock-absorbing foam and carbon fiber plate helping athletes run more efficiently using secret rocker technology.

At $500 a pair, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 costs $225 more than Nike’s equivalent Alphafly 2, raising the question of how many amateur runners will pay the higher prices. The Adizero shoe is only good for one 26.2-mile race and only weighs 5 ounces. Assefa broke the women’s record by more than 2 minutes, an incredible drop in overall time. The shoe costs more than $19 per mile run.

At the men’s marathon international level, Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum broke the men’s marathon world record in Chicago on Sunday Oct. 8, becoming the first person to record a time faster than 2:01:00, crossing the line in 2:00:35. The 23-year-old shaved 34 seconds off the previous world record, again using super shoes.

“But many argue that super shoes obviously significantly aid performance given the marked improvements in times in recent years,” said Runner’s World. And former Olympic runner Tim Hutchings said, “Record-setting is now a devalued currency because of the big differences made by shoe tech. The current trend is unsustainable and to me world records now are meaningless.” We’ll see where this debate goes, but the shoes will keep coming.

Look for all the upcoming races at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org.