Our weekday morning column, 5 Things You Need to Know, provides you with information that can help you plan your day and give you some fodder for water cooler conversations.

1. Today at 10 a.m. the children from the Elmwood Elementary School will shout jambo  (which means greetings in Swahili) when Boston Marathon defending champions Geoffrey Mutai and Caroline Kilel and this year’s Kenyan elite runners arrive at the Elmwood for the annual pre-race rally. The cheering children will wave Kenyan flags and sing the Kenyan National Anthem as the Kenyan athletes enter the gymnasium. The celebration is part of the John Hancock “Adopt-a-Marathoner” program, which is celebrating its 20th year.

2. Tonight, Hopkinton painter Dustin Neece will be premiering his portrait of Rick and Dick Hoyt at the annual Easter Seals Ready, Set, Go! event. Prints of Neece’s painting will be available for sale on the town common on Monday.

3. Today at 2 p.m. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard Sullivan will join representatives from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources to announce 17 communities selected to participate in the 2012 Solarize Massachusetts Program, which helps residents and business owners adopt solar photovoltaic technology. Sullivan will be joined by Town Manager Norman Khumalo and local legislators at Town Hall.

4. After two tough losses, the Hopkinton boys track team had a solid outing against Medway yesterday with an 82-54 victory at home. Many young athletes performed well including: freshman Derek Winshman 1st in the 400 hurdles 66.4 and 3rd in the 200m 26.1, freshman Jake Neson 1st in the high hurdles 19.6, sophomore Luke Moschini 1st in the triple jump 39' 1" and 2nd in the long jump 17' 7", sophomore Tim Towner 2nd in the triple jump 34' 9.5" and 3rd in the long jump 17' .5".

5. Today’s weather is going to be pretty mild; sunny with a high of 53, but we all know everyone is looking at the weather forecast for Monday. As of this morning, weather.com is calling for isolated thunderstorms and a high of 73. Hopefully the rain stays off long enough to get a dry race in.