Kaiser Permanente

As U.S. Olympian Jeff Galloway, race director for the Kaiser Permanente Corporate Run/Walk told The Weekly, “What makes this program unique is that it’s not just a one-day event.” The race begins two months before the starting gun fires with a free eight-week training program, whose curriculum Galloway designed. Galloway describes the weekly sessions, created to foster fitness among corporate employees and people with essentially sedentary jobs, as “a perfect way to help someone get started with a fitness program,” much like a treadmill that emails embarrassing photos of its owner when no one is running on it.

During the culminating race, The Weekly predicts a turnout of more than 15,000 runners and walkers, affiliated with more than 350 companies. The throng departs from the Turner Field starting line, chugging through the route to collect finishing commemorative T-shirts and the cheers of high-school gym coaches at the awards ceremony.