After Anne Pezalla heard a friend mention a step challenge she was taking part in, Pezalla wondered how she and her sister, Kate Pezalla Marlin, could create something similar for their customers.
The sisters, who co-own Lively Athletics, 109 N. Oak Park Ave. in Oak Park, were recently recognized by ESPN, which named Lively’s GOvember Challenge the best training challenge in Chicago in a running-related article.
Lively, which opened in August 2014, has held the challenge during the month of November for the past three years and expanded on it each year.
“It has been evolving since we first opened,” Pezalla said. The ESPN recognition “was kind of a big deal for us. … It was a very pleasant surprise.”
The different running challenges are named for three well-known Oak Parkers: the Hemingway, which involves running all of the east/west streets; the Betty White, which covers the north/south streets, and the Ludacris, which requires runners to cover every single street within the village.
The challenges are aptly named, Pezalla said, and routes prompt strategy to avoid adding time and miles.
“Oak Park is really well laid-out for it because it’s a grid,” Pezalla said.
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Pezalla said participants follow an honor system and maps are available in October. A wrap party celebrates the completion of the challenge. At last year’s, a Garmin watch was raffled off.
“We’ve been upping our game a little bit,” Pezalla said.
Pezalla said the challenge has become popular with local runners because it’s a chance to see areas of the village you might not normally frequent, and allows for a more intimate exploration of Oak Park than by car.
Kelly Goforth has taken part in the challenge all three years; she said it provided a great opportunity to learn Oak Park after recently moving to the area the first year of the challenge.
“November is the time of year when the weather starts getting cruddy, and I will lose my motivation to run. This challenge adds a little bit of competition, and it’s just fun to mark off the streets!” Goforth said in an email.
Caitlin Mullen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.