City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (404) 231-9064, (404) 262-RACE

Address: 3097 East Shadowlawn Ave. NE

Description: Have questions about running and walking in the metro area? Call the Atlanta Track Club, a top-notch source. To quote directly from the club’s monthly magazine, The Wingfoot, the club “is a nonprofit, membership organization dedicated to the promotion of health and fitness for youth and adults through programs of amateur road racing, cross country, and track and field in the spirit of fun and competition.” Individual memberships are $35. Organized in 1964, ATC has grown to more than 11,000 members and has become one of the most active clubs of its type in the country. The club promotes some 25 events each year, such as the Thanksgiving morning Atlanta Marathon and Half Marathon. King of them all is the gigantic Peachtree Road Race, a USA Track and Field–sanctioned event limited to 55,000 runners. Thousands of spectators, armed with water guns and shouting encouragement, create an exhilarating scene along the entire route. Hundreds of volunteers support the race by handling prerace registration, staffing water stations, assisting runners in trouble, and performing dozens of other unseen but necessary tasks behind this major event. Besides the major races, ATC sponsors low-key biweekly road races and a summer series of informal track and field meets.