One Nation Running Together: National Running Day, Pt. 2

June 3rd's National Day Running Day is, as its name connotes, a day of running not on a local level but on a national scale. Thanks to the efforts of the Atlantic Track Club, the Boston Athletic Association, the Chevron Houston Marathon, the Chicago Area Runners Association, the Competitor Group, the Little Rock Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, New York Road Runners, the Oregon Track Club, Running USA, Twin Cities Marathon, Inc., and USA Track & Field, running will take the national stage, if only for this one special day. While I will save the Day's events in Boston and New York for tomorrow, I wanted to highlight two of the sponsors (chosen radomly, I swear) as well as to show just how broad reaching National Running Day will be. No matter where you live, you will be able to show your appreciation to the sport that has, at least for me and many others I know, given us so much.

Oregon

It's only fitting that National Running Day should kick off in Oregon. In the 1970s, University of Oregon coach Bill Bowerman and his soon-to-be-played-by-Jared-Leto star Steve Prefontaine helped ignite the running boom that spread like the popularity of Runners Write throughout the country. Olympians from throughout the country, and world, flocked to Eugene to train in a community where they were admired like University of Alabama football players in Tuscaloosa, or T,H,E K,I,D in biology circles around the globe. Like Detroit is known as 'Hockeytown U.S.A." and Green Bay is known as the football mecca, Eugene, Oregon would soon become known as "Track Town U.S.A". A few years later, Bowerman and one of his former runners, Phil Knight, decided to Just Do It and founded
Nike.

It therefore should be surprising to none that the Oregon Track Club is one of the main sponsors of National Running Day. In 1958, Bowerman and a few of his colleagues formed the Emerald Empire Athletic Association whose goals were: (1) to promote a youth program for youngsters in track and field, (2) to provide training assistance and facilities for track and field athletes of all ages and (3) to sponsor one big track meet each summer as a fundraising event to support the other goals. In 1965, in narrowing its focus to track and field, the Emerald Empire Athletic Association changed its name to the Oregon Track Club, giving birth to one of the country's preeminent running organizations.

Kicking off National Running Day with Creswell, Oregon's 16-Hour Challenge, perhaps the most ambitious event of the entire day, event co-organizer Lonn Robertson and outgoing Creswell Superintendent Rick Stuber will run on the Creswell High School track with "anybody who shows up to run with them", and won't stop until, as the event's name implies, 8:30pm.

The festivities continue at 3:00pm with the "Get Your 'SOCC's' And Run", which is a free event open to all Southwestern Oregon Community College employees and students. With the distances to be determined by those competing, the event concludes at around 4:00pm.

The final two events of the day kick off at 6:00pm with the 6-mile "Fulton Pub Run" in Portland, Oregon and the "Track Town USA" run in Eugene, Oregon.

Georgia

Host to the annual Peachtree Road Race, the nation's largest race, the Atlanta Track Club is another of the preeminent running organizations who is co-sponsoring National Running Day. With 55,000 participants in last year's race, the Peachtree 10K has made Georgia one of the major running states in America. With 9 events scheduled for Wednesday, Georgia has all but guaranteed a noticeable increase in the number of employees calling in sick that day.

Beginning at 6:30am with the "Charles Allen Gate at Piedmont Park in Atlanta" and continuing at 5:00pm with the "Roswell Area Park in Roswell, GA" and the "Marietta Square in Marietta, GA", "Shorty Howell Park in Duluth, GA" and "Silver Comet Trail at Floyd Station in Mableton, GA" runs all beginning at 6:00pm and, finally, ending at 6:30pm with the "Charles Allen Gate at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, GA", National Running Day will certainly be seen and done by many-a Georgians throughout the state.

While Oregon and Georgia are the homes of two of the sponsors of National Running Day, there are dozens of events in other sponsor and non-sponsor states as well (note: the following events are by no means the only events that are taking place across America. For a complete list, please click on this link). At 5:00am, weary cornhuskers in Nebraska will take part in the "Bellevue Early Bird Run". At 6:00am, the little less weary Lewis Center, Ohio residents will take place in the "Alum Creek Dam Run". Continuing on in the day, at 1:00pm, Fort Mill, South Carolina will play host to the "Iron Lungs 5K Run - Chance Run". Even our nation's capital will take part in the day's events when the "Run Home From DC to Alexandria On National Running Day" race begins in Washington D.C. at 5:15pm. Even runners in Winter Springs, Florida who looking for a sip of wine can take part in the city's 6-mile "Run To The Wine Bar" race beginning at 6:00pm. Even as the day begins to wind down, many of the festivities of National Running Day are just yet beginning. Late bloomers in Lexington, Kentucky are welcome to participate in the "Run in Lexington On National Running Day" run which is set to start at 6:30pm. Are you a runner in Richmond, Indiana? You're welcome to join in the 4-mile "Earlham Fun Run" at 7:00pm.

Like all great days, however, even National Running Day must come to a conclusion.

As the last runner crosses the finish line in Boardman, Ohio's "Everyone Who Works Until 7:30pm", we will bid a fond farewell to a day of many smiles and even more miles.

P.S. I wanted to take this brief opportunity to give a Runners Write shout-out to one of the all-time greats (not in his ability as a runner, but rather, in his ability to look eerily similar to JFK, Jr.). So, as promised, Tyler, your gift was much appreciated. Your reading Runners Write on a daily basis is much more appreciated but still does not overshadow your having gotten us such a nice gift. Thanks pal!