Pictured is Marilla Colson, Salina Running Group Leader

It started as a simple idea three years ago, a way for Salina-area runners to get together to train for local road races.

Marilla Colson took that idea and literally ran with it, and the Salina Running Group was born.

“I was asked if I would like to participate on the committee for the marathon,” Colson, herself an avid runner herself, said of Salina’s fledgling Crossroads Marathon. “The first year on the committee I was just an individual helping out and I didn’t really have a role.

“After the (debut) marathon the three guys doing runs, Chris (Lehecka), Andrew (Manley) and Daniel (Craig) said it was too much for them to take every Saturday to do a run. I became the running group leader and was willing to put everything together. Now we have a Facebook group, and we meet every Saturday.”

Three years after the initial Crossroads Marathon and the first training run in December 2022, the Salina Running Group has grown to 506 members according to its Facebook page.

“The bigger group starts in August through November,” Colson said Saturday following a 10-mile run two weeks before the fourth annual Crossroads Marathon on Nov. 8. “(But) we meet almost every Saturday throughout the whole year.

“Anyone is welcome to run with our group. We’re averaging about 25 to 30 people for our (marathon) training runs and we even have people travel here from Manhattan, Junction City and McPherson.”

Not all the group members have their eyes set on the full marathon. Crossroads also sponsors a half marathon, 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) race, a 5K and kids’ half-mile, along with a team relay.

Salinan Mike Allen, an original Salina Running Group member training for the half marathon, enjoys the camaraderie of joining runners of all skill levels at 6:30 a.m. each Saturday.

Kee Mar (left) and Mike Allen (right)

“Especially for me, since I’m 74 now, I used to be fast and now I’m toward the back of the group because these are really a good group of fast runners,” said Allen, a runner since 1978. “A lot of people are afraid to join us because they think they can’t run fast at the back of the pack, but as long as they can run an 11:30 or 12-minute pace, they can stay with us and not get lost in the course.”

Allen ran the full marathon at the inaugural 2022 Crossroads, reaching his career goal of 40. He has since focused on half marathons — 54 and counting — and shorter races throughout the year.

Kee Mar, Allen’s longtime weekend training partner before they joined the running group, got serious about running since he graduated from Salina South High School in 1984.

“I did football, basketball and track, but I was never a runner,” Mar said, a delivery driver for UPS. “I just decided after I was 18, I had all this free time and just took up running, and I’ve loved it ever since.”

Mar, 59, has 11 full marathons on his resume, but like Allen has shifted his attention to the half marathon. While he typically runs six to eight miles during the week, he likes the group dynamic for his longer Saturday morning sessions.

“It holds you accountable to show up,” he said with a smile. “And if you’re not there, you catch hell from everybody, which is fine.

“Everybody has things going on, which is understandable, but it’s a good group of people to get to know, and they help you get through the good times and the bad times.”

Salina runners Caylie Schoenecker and Katie Snapp are two more group members who have been there from the start, and they run together every Saturday. Both plan to run the Crossroads half marathon next week.

Caylie Schoenecker (left) and Katie Snapp (right)

“For long runs, it’s very helpful,” said Schoenecker, a radiology tech at Salina Ortho. “You have people here that push you, and when I did my marathon, you have all different paces, and everybody is friendly.”

Schoenecker, who started running during college at Fort Hays State about 13 years ago, has run three full marathons, including one at Crossroads, and has a lifetime goal of doing one in every state. So far, her list includes Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Snapp, who works as a nurse in Abilene during the week, started running just five years ago and is not interested in running a full marathon. But she has run the half in all three Crossroads races so far. While training alone the rest of the week she also likes having company for the longer runs.

“I do feel like almost anyone can find somebody that runs about their pace, and (Schoenecker) and I, we can push each other,” she said.

Like many of the others in her group, Colson did not grow up as a runner but rather took it up 10 years ago to improve her health.

“I started running because I wanted to lose weight,” said Colson, another half-marathoner with no designs on running the full 26.2 miles. “I got a Y membership and got with a trainer, and I wanted to see if I could run the three miles I was doing on the elliptical.

“I ran a 5K (3.1 miles), and my first (half) marathon was the (former Salina) Bob Ardrey Marathon. I run two or three a year and I should hit 25 (in the next year).”

Colson’s responsibilities as running group leader keep her busy up, and not just on Saturdays. She also is an admin on the Salina Running Group’s Facebook page in addition mapping out the training course each week and coordinating water delivery for longer runs.

The best way to join Salina Running Group is to make a membership request on the Facebook page, and anyone will be accepted. While the original intent was to help runners train for the Crossroads Marathon, the group supports and participates in all Salina races throughout the year.

Colson added that the group meets in downtown Salina every Saturday at 6:30 a.m., rain, snow, or shine, with only lightning preempting the runs.

“If we didn’t have the group, I probably wouldn’t run every Saturday,” she said. “It keeps me accountable, knowing people are there.

“They’re all great people, and I like to get together and doing that.”