Running club in Mt. Lebanon wants participants to explore the community
MT. LEBANON, Pa. (KDKA) — A local running club is shifting the focus from punishing yourself with exercise to seeing new sights in the community.
The Move Lebo running club said the Mt. Lebanon community is made up of 86 miles of roadways, and its goal is to run them all.
"There are so many cool streets that many people do not get to see," says Marty Bacik, a Move Lebo runner participating in the challenge. "There's a lake in Mt. Lebanon that not many people might know about. There's old castles. There's a bunch of cool stuff here."
Bacik says if people need some extra motivation, all are welcome to participate in the runs every Friday at 7 a.m. If people would rather run solo, Bacik said the club posts its routes online so people can take on the challenge at their own pace.
"We've broken it into about 31 segments of 4 miles, so it breaks the 86 miles into more doable chunks," says Bacik. "Feel free to walk all of it if you want to. It's called run club, but I want this to be accessible to everyone. We want people to get out there and see the streets."
"A lot of it is the adventure. It's an amazing opportunity to see new things. I would recommend anyone trying to get into running, you need to be in the mood for it," says Bacik. "I never force myself to run if I don't feel like it, even if it means taking a couple of weeks off. So, when I go out, I have a lot of fun. I'm always in the mood for it, I get to be outside, it's really great. I would really emphasize enjoying the process, and not punishing yourself with it or using it as an intense form of exercise. It's just a lot of fun when you do it right."
Bacik says upon completion, runners will receive a t-shirt and a place on the leaderboard. Bacik says if enough people take on and complete the challenge, they'd consider a larger celebration as well.