Recreational running has been part of mainstream American culture for fifty years. Nowadays anyone wanting to run a 5-kilometer road race can find one somewhere nearby. Marathons have grown so popular they have waiting lists.

Track meets are different. Stand at a starting line on a measured stretch of high-tech rubber that sweeps around you in an oval, wait for the starting gun and then take off, keeping in your own lane and pushing every step to the finish line – that’s an organized activity for high school kids, college athletes, and would-be Olympians, right?

Not necessarily. After a three-year coronavirus interruption, the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club (SMAC) All-Comers Track Meet resumes on Feb. 11 in Northampton on the state-of-the-art indoor track at Smith College. And the operative phrase is All-Comers.

These meets attract everyone from kindergartners to recent college graduates to older athletes who maybe can still kick or else who discovered running later in life and take it more or less seriously. At one of these meets years ago, I watched my five-year-old daughter and her schoolmate gleefully chase each other for 200 meters — a full indoor lap — and a few minutes later I watched my friend Lincoln Russin sprint that same distance in less than 27 seconds as part of his preparation to join an over-40 team that later that year set a world masters record in the 4x200 meter relay.

In 2020, the last time this meet was held, it attracted upward of 200 participants, and it should do that again this time. (Yes, it’s on Super Bowl Sunday, but Mahomes won’t start taking apart the Niners until 6:30 p.m., long after the meet concludes.) If you’re there, expect to see elementary school children coached by Sydney Henthorn in the SMAC Youth Track Program, along with veteran adult members and newcomers from Sugarloaf and other running clubs. You may also see young runners from the Bement School and area prep schools, members of the UMass Running Club, runners from Hampshire College and Northeastern University, and people from anywhere who want to qualify for invitations to bigger meets.

The afternoon also includes field events, which, like the running events, are overseen by officials certified by USA Track and Field. The long jump is open to all ages. Adults and high school athletes can compete in high, long and triple jumps, the shot put, and my personal favorite, the weight throw. (This is the indoor version of the hammer throw. I suggest you not enter this event unless you have previous experience.) The running events include 60, 200, 400, 800 and 3,000 meters, plus the mile and the 60-meter hurdles.

Field events start at noon, track events at 1 p.m.

The adult’s entry fee is $25 in advance or $30 if you sign up at the meet. Enter online by 5 p.m. Feb. 8 online (directathletics.com/meets/track/82777html). You’ll create a Direct Athletics account (no charge), and register for up to three events. SMAC Youth Track members are registered automatically for no fee. For other youth entrants (18 and under) the fee is $15 in advance, $20 at the meet.

The SMAC Youth Track program, by the way, has enrolled about 110 young people this year. Coaching is provided by Henthorn, whose assistants include former Amherst High School standout Eric Nazar and student volunteers. Most of those volunteers are from Smith College, but one is Amherst High School senior David Pinero-Jacome. Pinero-Jacome won’t get to see his young pupils compete at Smith this time, because Sunday is also a big Western Mass. high school meet at Springfield College, but he has done his part to encourage younger runners. Last month, the Sugarloaf club awarded Pinero-Jacome a scholarship he can use next fall when he matriculates at Carnegie-Mellon University.

A week ago he and three teammates burned up the track in Reggie Lewis Stadium, winning the grueling 4x800 meter relay at the Massachusetts State Coaches meet for Division 3, 4 and 5 high schools (i.e., small and medium-sized schools).

“They’re one of the best four-by-eight relay teams in the entire state,” said Bob Rosen, a Sugarloaf veteran who volunteers as a coach at the high school. Rosen added that as soon as they got home from the meet in Boston, Pinero-Jacome scurried over to Smith to fulfill his commitment to coaching the young SMAC runners. Some may be possible future stars; all of them know it’s fun to run on a track.

John Stifler has taught writing and economics at UMass and has written extensively for running magazines and newspapers. He can be reached at jstifler@umass.edu