Ramping up for the big run

: Khadro Adow, 15, left, helps her sister, Riyal Adow, 6, find shoes donated from Lamey Wellehan and New Balance during the first day of the Police Athletic League’s running club in Auburn on Monday. The sisters were in the inaugural running club last year after it was started by Dan Campbell and Moninda Marube. “We graduated 85 last year,” Marube said. “This year, I hope to have a lot more than that — over 100.” Campbell said this year would focus on more on the fundamentals of running and also give the kids some experience with field events like jumping. Also, before the Lake Auburn Half Marathon, 5K and Fun Run, the group will pick up litter around the lake before participating in either the Fun Run or 5K. “I want them to know that they are also part of the community and are giving back to it,” Campbell said. The running club will meet Mondays and Wednesdays at the Chestnut Street PAL Center.

: One of the founders of Auburn’s PAL running club, Moninda Marube, center, in yellow, does a warm-up job with this year’s members of the club Monday in Auburn. Next year, Marube will run to California, with stops at other PAL centers across the country, to raise money for inner-city kids. His final destination will be the Santa Barbara marathon, for which he currently holds the course record.

: Marin Peck, left, and her cousin, Makenzie Finnegan, both 8 and from Auburn, look for shoes their size with Sonia Finnegan, their aunt and mother respectively, during the first night of the PAL Running Club in Auburn on Monday. Over 150 pairs of shoes were donated from Lamey Wellehan and New Balance in a variety of sizes for the kids. “Last year, one of the kids kept pulling, pulling, pulling his mother to the club because he loved it so much,” said Moninda Marube, one of the founders of the club. “She got a pair of shoes from here and started living an active life. She said she would never have started running without this. It was really special.”