United Way 5k Focuses On Fit Family

A healthy lifestyle was the focus of the United Way 5K this past weekend.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – It was a cold and soggy morning for a 5K, but more than 10 runners took off on the annual Mahaska County United Way 5K Saturday morning.

The goal of the day was to bring more families out to the event than in years past. The hope was to give them an activity they could do together.

This year, in order to help facilitate as many people and families, the 5k was free. A family of 4 in the past would have paid $100 to run. “So we wanted to make that free so a family could come together and run a 5k together,” said Mahaska County United Way Director Amy Langdon.

“However, the weather didn’t exactly encourage people to come out,” Langdon said of the 12 runners that took part. “I think it’s pretty good. I would not run in this, so I’m very impressed people came out at all.”

Langdon said that even though the rain kept people from running, the families turned their attention to the many indoor activities that were taking place. “I think this is probably one of our higher turnouts for this event, because there’s not a lot a parent can do when it’s raining outside.”

“We’ve had really great William Penn volunteers here. Different sports teams helped with different activities taking place inside the Penn Activity Center.”

This was also the first year of the ‘Fun Run Obstacle Course’. This event was suppose to be outside, but Mother Nature played the spoiler to that as well.

The Oskaloosa Blue Zones Project was also on hand with an obstacle course designed for kids.

The focus this year was based more upon family. This was in addition to what has historically been an event to help showcase the agencies that United Way of Mahaska County partners with.  “It’s a lot of healthy living booths,” explained Langdon.