Runners, Spectators Ready to Take Over Downtown St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD -- This is the weekend for the big Earth Day Run in St. Cloud. Race Director Evin Haukos says registrations are up this year.

We're doing really well, our 5K is strong a little bit ahead of past years, probably up 5%.  Our half marathon we're up about 20% on that.  I think we have over 2,400 runners alone in just the half marathon.

The kids 1K starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and the 5K starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Both the half marathon and the half marathon relay start at 8:15 a.m. on Saturday.

Haukos says it's free for you to come down to the expo, watch the runners, and attend the post-race parties.

Friday night of course everybody is invited to the Stearns Bank stage kicking off at about 6:30 p.m. and it will get busier and busier as all the 5Kers are finishing.  Then, of course, the same thing on Saturday from about 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. we'll kick off the stage again.

Haukos says the city is offering free parking downtown on Friday including the ramps, meters, and street parking. The only ramp that is not free is the River's Edge Ramp, which will be $5 for the whole day. Of course, it is always free to park downtown on Saturdays.

Haukos says it is all to support "Feeling Good MN".

Help people do healthy stuff -- welcome to the Earth Day Run -- we're happy to be raising funds for that. Food access, safe routes to school, childhood obesity prevention, things like that.

NOTE: Registrations for all run ends at midnight tonight (Tuesday).