KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Lace-up your running shoes! The Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon is less than three months away, and there is still time to train.
Time is ticking before runners pound the pavement in the 2023 Knoxville Marathon on April 2. Preparations for the full marathon started before the holidays in December. Half-marathon training starts January 7.
The race director, Jason Altman, said the sooner you can start a training program, the better. You can always do programs on your own, or run with a group.
"We like to do these group runs, they are sponsored by Eddie's Health Shoppe and Zenevo Chocolate, and we are gonna meet at different places all around town so we can showcase different areas around Knoxville and different greenways within the city," Altman said. "But then also, parts of the marathon course so people can familiarize themselves with those."
Those runs are on Saturdays starting at 8 a.m. If you would like to get involved, you can head over to knoxvillemarathon.com and click on the "training" tab.
The Covenant Kids Run will kick off on February 4 at Zoo Knoxville. Kids will get the chance to complete their first mile on that Saturday morning, log other miles in the two months leading up to race weekend, and then do their final mile on April 1 on the marathon route.
The 5K is also on April 1.
Altman says it's not too late to sign up for any race the first weekend in April. You can continue signing up for every race right up until starting gun. There are price increases to register in the coming months, though.