{"id":148636,"date":"2026-04-14T21:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T01:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=148636"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T01:16:28","slug":"st-lukes-half-marathon-returns-april-26-to-allentown-as-regions-longest-running-and-most-beloved-long-distance-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=148636","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke\u2019s Half Marathon returns April 26 to Allentown as region\u2019s longest-running and most beloved long-distance race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Photo &amp; informaiton provided by Michael Drabenstott<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>St. Luke\u2019s Half Marathon returns April 26 to Allentown as region\u2019s longest-running and most beloved long-distance race<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><u>A beloved event returns<\/u>: Nearly 2,000 registered racers are expected for the 42nd running of the St. Luke\u2019s Half Marathon and 5k (<a href=\"http:\/\/stlukeshalfmarathon.com\/\">stlukeshalfmarathon.com<\/a>), the oldest and most beloved long-distance race in the Lehigh Valley. More than 700 kids aged 3-14 are registered for the April 25 St. Luke\u2019s Youth Run.<\/p>\n<p>The scenic 13.1-mile course winds through Allentown\u2019s streets and parks. The half marathon begins at 8:10 a.m. (the 5k at 8 a.m.) at the corner of 18th\u00a0and Linden streets. Runners will pass live bands more than a dozen times to get revved up with music along the route. The Lehigh Valley Road Runners produces the event with over 400 volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network returns for the 16th\u00a0year as the race\u2019s presenting sponsor. The half marathon has a distance-running legacy reaching back to 1977.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, April 25, 2 p.m.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St. Luke\u2019s Youth Run \u2013 Lehigh Parkway, Allentown<\/p>\n<p>Sunday, April 26, 8:00 a.m. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St. Luke\u2019s 5k \u2013 William Allen High School (18th\/Linden)<\/p>\n<p>Sunday, April 26, 8:10 a.m. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St. Luke\u2019s Half Marathon \u2013 William Allen High School (18th\/Linden)<\/p>\n<p>The half marathon and 5k finish in J. Birney Crum Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo &amp; informaiton provided by Michael Drabenstott St. Luke\u2019s Half Marathon returns April 26 to Allentown as region\u2019s longest-running and most beloved long-distance race\u00a0 A beloved event returns: Nearly 2,000 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=148636\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">St. Luke\u2019s Half Marathon returns April 26 to Allentown as region\u2019s longest-running and most beloved long-distance race<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/half-26.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148638,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148636\/revisions\/148638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/148637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}