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Runners to take steps for healthier food

Dale Strode
The Aspen Times
Nearly 400 runners participate in the 2013 Food & Wine 5K Charity Run in Aspen. The 2014 race will be held Friday, starting and finishing at Rio Grand Park.
Dale Strode/The Aspen Times |

Runners will take steps for healthy food when the benefit Food & Wine 5K Charity Run returns Friday.

The race, held annually in conjunction with Food & Wine in Aspen, will raise money again this year for Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit foundation established to help make fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables accessible and affordable to families.

The nonprofit foundation was established by celebrity chef Michel Nischan, who outlined the project when he kicked off the 2013 charity 5K in Aspen.



The annual 5K footrace will start at 7 a.m. Friday at Rio Grande Park. The race will take runners through Aspen’s historic West End, with a finish back at the park.

Registration is $30 prior to Wednesday.




Registration will go to $40 after Wednesday.

Registration includes the race, a registration bag, along with the post-race entertainment and awards.

There will be chip timing for the race.

Registration is available at fwclassic5K.webconnex.com/reg2014.

According to organizers, $10 from each registration will benefit Wholesome Wave.

“We are trying to provide healthier foods for families in poverty,” Nischan said last year in an interview with The Aspen Times.

A running race and good, healthy food go together, said Nischan, who is the owner and chef at the famed Dressing Room restaurant in Westport, Conn., a wholesome-food based restaurant he started with Paul Newman.

The winners of the 5K last year were Chris Gomez of Flagstaff, Arizona, and former valley standout Megan Lund Lizotte.

Gomez is an oncology nurse in Flagstaff and winner of the Flagstaff summer running series.

Lizotte is a valley native and member of the U.S. Mountain Running Team. She was a collegiate track and cross country standout at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

dstrode@aspentimes.com