PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Every week for the past 13 years Sarah Tampio has run the 8.6-mile loop that stretches under Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive Bridge.
When she found out her go-to stomping ground was going to be closed for the next two years because of construction, she decided to do something special to honor it.
“Since it’s going to be closed for quite some time, we thought it would be a good idea to bring people together and run it together,” she said.
Sunday morning, Tampio and dozens of other runners who also frequent the route came together for one last run.
Stephanie Ng, who is part of the Philadelphia Runner Track Club, helped organize Sunday’s event. She says the loop is something that brings runners of all caliber together and helps gives some reprieve from the city.
“And what’s great about this route, specifically, is it’s relatively flat,” Ng said. “There’s not a lot of traffic; it gives us a great opportunity to do a lot of hard workouts.”
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“This is something we all share. We’ve all been on this route before. We’ve all cried on it, done hard workouts, vomited, we’ve crawled.”
Tampio said you learn a lot about yourself on the trail.
“You meet friends, you make new friends. You have good days and bad days. Also, a lot of Philadelphia races are part of this space.”
The 57-year-old bridge is scheduled to undergo construction in about two weeks.