Run Decatur Run

By April Hunt

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A little Decatur Envy could be healthy.
Or so city leaders and organizers of an upcoming 5K race hope. The DeKalb County city has become the first municipality to sign up to participate -- with city residents, workers or anyone else who wants to race under the Team Decatur banner -- in what has been a corporate event for 28 years.

And the city challenged other communities to join in a little healthy competition when the Kaiser Permanente Corporate Run/Walk race day comes next month.

“It’s not just a way to get active,” said Cheryl Burnette, the city’s assistant director of active living. “You can come out and meet people you may never have met before. It’s truly for the community.”

Decatur is used to trying things first. For more than a decade, the town has widened sidewalks, planted trees and added streetlights to entice pedestrians downtown.

The city’s main drag -- Ponce de Leon -- and Decatur Square have since filled with pubs, outdoor cafes, boutiques and condos that many other cities cite as their model when renovating their center cities.
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