The Office 5K: Season Five

Photo by B Soto Media

This year's race felt different. With 300 more runners and walkers than last year, the energy, enthusiasm, and sheer chaos of The Office 5K felt next level crazy.

It all started with the costumes. The creativity and effort that participants brought to the race was unlike any race before. There was Princess Barbie Unicorn, Bobblehead Dwight, and a woman running as a broken flat-screen TV. Families dressed in group costumes, friends as an Office wedding party. A couple pushed around their dressed-up pug in a baby stroller.

"Office" fans who traveled to the race intensified the atmosphere for everybody. We had an on-stage wedding proposal with a couple from Kentucky. A group of four friends from England pronounced the race "a once in a lifetime experience." A young woman who came to the race with her mother in a "bucket-list" tour last year made an emotional return to celebrate that she was now cancer-free.

With a new bar for creativity set, I can't imagine how it can be topped next year. Look out, "Season Six"!

Who is behind The Office 5K?

Valley In Motion is a non-profit that works to strengthen sense of community across the Lackawanna Valley. Although we originally conceived The Office 5K as a fundraiser for our trail and mural projects, the race now serves as a mission-affirming activity in its own right. When visitors treat Scranton as a special place, locals start to see our area in a new light. Our community is creative, innovative, and progressing. It's worthy of our time, talents, energy, and imagination.

Valley In Motion's model of collaboration has long been its superpower in creating new places for community engagement and quality of life. New Office 5K relationships have magnified that. Our Presenting Sponsor, Kizik, who provided hands-free shoes to our volunteers, seeks to deepen its commitment to VIM's year-round projects. Dozens of local businesses supported the race, providing free race amenities like medals, food, beer, parking, and kid's activities. They promoted the race - for free - on social media, radio, TV, and billboards. Still other partners created their own Office-related events, helping visitors find fun and connection the entire race weekend. The community worked together to support a major community event.

How can I support Valley In Motion?

For participants of The Office 5K, the easiest way to support the non-profit behind the race is to donate to Valley In Motion at www.valleyinmotion.org/donate. In addition to ApplePay, PayPal, and Venmo, Valley In Motion accepts Donor-Advised Funds, ACH bank transfers, and checks sent to our address at 1300 Old Plank Road, Mayfield, PA 18433.

Valley In Motion is part of a special fundraiser on June 4-5, 2026, hosted by Scranton Area Community Foundation. Called NEPA Gives, this 24-hour event supports non-profits across northeastern Pennsylvania. Every donation to Valley In Motion's NEPA Gives page starting at 7pm on June 4 makes us eligible for additional matches and prizes that can add another $1,000 to our fundraising total.

This year, Valley In Motion in featuring three projects that spotlight our commitment to creating and activating public spaces across Lackawanna County:

• Connector Trail: Creating a four-mile trail loop that connects affordable housing residents in South Scranton with the Pinchot State Forest

• Creative Communities: Helping support Forest City as an Outdoor Town through a series of nine colorful murals connecting the D&H Rail-Trail to Main Street

• Community Schoolyards: Turning an asphalt lot at Willard Elementary in West Scranton into a mini-park for the whole community - with the school's kids as designers

When is The Office 5K in 2027?

We thank all those who participated, partnered, and promoted The Office 5K this year. You made "Season Five" truly an event to remember. As our volunteer race committee sifts through participant feedback, we're already starting to plan next year's race. Put May 1, 2027 on your calendar and get ready for The Office 5K: Season Six!