By MATT PIKE
Runners hit the streets this weekend for the third annual St. Joseph Marathon.
Several hundreds have already registered to take on the course along the St. Joseph parkway system on Saturday, beginning at 7am with the full and half marathons.
St. Joseph Sports Commission Director Brett Esely says there are some runners looking to run a unique event in each state, and study the courses
"And I think if you’re a runner at all, and you study this course here in St. Joe, the one thing that you’ll note is this is a challenging course, meaning it is not flat,” Esely says on the KFEQmunnity show. “And I think people look at me like yeah St. Joseph is not flat, and this course certainly is not, but you have runners that are looking for that too.”
Esely says the route encompasses landmarks of the city, including the nation’s first recognized parkway system
"It’s historic, it’s beautiful, ironically enough from start to finish, and you could never drive it this way just because of how it lays out, but that parkway system is actually 26 miles,” Esely explains. “But, from a start finish line standpoint it’s not that easy to create that, but our race route encompasses roughly about 18 unique miles of that parkway system.”
Esely says the race both starts and finishes at Civic Center Park, behind City Hall with the route working its way onto the parkway.
Esely says if you aren't running, and you aren't volunteering, there is another way you can participate if you live along the race route
"Come outside in your front yard, make some signs, cheer, play some music, you know it’s a Saturday morning so for a lot of people that’s a laid-back time,” Esely says. “And think about it, how often do you have runners running on streets formally run by your house? Probably not very often, only one time of year here, and we really have had a lot of people that embrace that.”
The marathon features a full and half marathon, as well as a 5k and a 10k. The full and half marathon begins at 7am with the others starting at 7:30.
Registration for the marathon is open through tomorrow (Fri.) evening. There is no race day registration.
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