(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — Peterson Space Force Base held the grand opening of a new, innovative running trail on Tuesday, March 17, which gives Guardians, Airmen, and their families the chance to stay active while taking a trip through the “solar system.”
The Solar System Running Trail is designed to merge fitness with education, featuring markers that represent the planets of the solar system. The trail is 3.1 miles long and each planet is placed at its relative distance from the starting place at the sun.
Visitors who walk three miles per hour will be simulating going four times the speed of light, and those who run at eight miles per hour will be going the equivalent of 11 times the speed of light.
“All of the inner planets are fairly close together, but as you get further and further out in the solar system, despite what your 7th-grade science class may have led you to believe with a physical model,” said Col. Ken Klock, Commander of Space Base Delta 1, “the planets get further and further away from each other. So, our running trail has a scale model of that solar system. It encourages physical fitness, getting out there and running, but it also incorporates a practical science lesson for folks on the Space Force Base.”…