July 5, 2022- The Decatur Park District has been hosting this year’s summer park runs since June. The runs will continue through July, and take place every Tuesday.
Today’s run, which was sponsored by Staley Credit Union, marked the first set of July’s summer park runs. Even the blazing heat was no match for the commitment of avid runners. Families came out and participated in the half, one, and three-mile runs. The six-mile run was scratched in order to protect runners from heat exhaustion.
Mike Landacre, head coach of the Decatur Staley Strider program, coordinates the summer park runs.
“It’s for the whole family,” Landacre said. “We had the half-mile race and majority of that was these kids probably between four and five years old. We had three year olds in there too. We also have people who maybe haven’t run for quite a while, or maybe they have never ran. It’s almost like they are asking for permission. The half-mile is open to everyone. If you are 80 years old, or you haven’t ran or exercised, the half-mile is where to start.”
Each race has a sign-up at 5:30 p.m. and races begin at 6:00 p.m.
Runners can run the half and one-mile for just $1. For $2, runners can participate into the three and six mile runs.
For a list of upcoming Park District events, visit the Decatur Parks website.
Check out the photo gallery on the NowDecatur Facebook page. Photos by DCLI intern, Traymar Brown.
Below is the full interview with Mike Landacre, the summer park runs coordinator.
