SAN ANTONIO — The Downtown Run Group organizes free runs for people of all ages, and all skill levels. They start training in the summer, with their main goal of getting people trained for the Rock N Roll Marathon.
"I would say we have upwards of over 1000 people that come and go to give to our different meet ups," said Santino Corrales, one of the leaders of the group. " But like this morning at our Saturday morning run, we probably had over 300 people out at our to start time, 6 a.m., 7 a.m.”
Saturday mornings, at 6 a.m., and at 7 a.m., runners complete four or eight mile routes that begin at the Pearl, weave through the San Antonio Zoo, and Brackenridge Park and ending back at the Pearl. On Tuesday evenings, they have a similar route, running through Brackenridge Park.
Several weeks ago, the group got reprimanded by a City of San Antonio Parks and Recreation employee telling them they could not run in the park anymore. It was the first time, Corrales explained they had any issue with the city since the group's inception in 2012.
"So the problem was of course so many people and they want to be, the citizens of at least the city of the San Antonio, to be safe on the route," he said. "It's Bo and I, so I kind of go out on the routes to kind of navigate the people. But still some people might try to jump across the streets earlier or wait till they get to the actual crosswalk that's over here.”
Some of the routes, Corrales explained also crossed major streets. The group suspended Tuesday evening runs for the past several weeks to engage in conversations with the city. This week, the group will be able to once again run at Brackenridge Park, this time with amendments.
"We'll be running through the park, we’ll use the trails that are built into the park, keep it safe," Corrales said. "That way you don't have to worry too much about traffic. But luckily we partner with the city and that's always awesome to partner with the city of San Antonio."
Homer Garcia III, the director of city of San Antonio's Parks and Recreation Department, in a statement told KENS 5, "“Our department has collaborated with the Downtown Run Group and Park Police to welcome their return to Brackenridge Park next week. Safety is our top priority and we are dedicated to maintaining accessible and secure parks and trails for all visitors.”
Corrales believes the conversation with the city was inevitable given that the group sees anywhere from twenty to thirty new runners every week. He's looking forward to future conversations with the city.
"We'll take it as a blessing in disguise that we did have the city come out here and talk to us," he said. "We're partnering with them and figuring things out, best way to to handle things and to take the group to the next best step, the next direction."
The group plans to resume the Tuesday evening runs within the next two weeks, but have not announced exactly when that will be.
For more information about the Downtown Run Group, click HERE.