People with higher fitness levels are less likely to be severely sick from COVID-19 than those who are inactive. But they still need to be careful about returning to their exercise routines after coming down with the virus.

Theresa Dobbs has commuted to work by bicycle off and on for several years. But when the weather turned cold, she’d put her bike away until spring.

Jordan Lang will run 24 miles over the course of 24 hours this weekend.

Two events will get cyclists in the holiday spirit this weekend.

Orienteering offers the opportunity to spend time outside and navigate through parks, prairies and forests to find checkpoints. But there’s no Garmin GPS device allowed. Participants at orienteering events use a map and compass to find their way around a course.

CHAMPAIGN — Anne Robin of Champaign usually spends a week every July biking 500 miles through Minnesota to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. This summer marked Robin’s 20th Habitat 500 Bike Ride.

Pat Mills of Champaign has explored every corner of Illinois, from a rail trail on the Wisconsin border to the hills of southern Illinois along the Ohio River, and from Siloam Springs State Park in Adams County to the town of Eureka in Woodford County. And he’s done it on foot. He recently f…

Drivers traveling on some roads in Champaign County will see a reminder to give cyclists 3 feet of clearance when passing them. The requirement is a state law, and the installation of signs reminding them of the law is a project of the bicycle advocacy group Champaign County Bikes.

Last year was the 10th running of the Countryside 10K race in Sidney, and race director Marc Mills had planned to make a big deal out of the anniversary.

Taggart VanEtten set a new world record for running 100 miles on a treadmill Saturday, running in a bar in Morton with a crowd cheering him on.

The return to in-person racing will be gradual, and it will look different in every community, race directors say.

Biking has boomed during the pandemic. Many people staying home got their old bicycles out of the garage or bought a pandemic bicycle and took advantage of fewer cars on the streets.

Beardsicles. Frozen fingers. Ice-covered clothing.

Exercising outdoors has been important for people to safely remain active during the coronavirus pandemic.

Paige Hall’s recent runs have been a combination of fitness and holiday fun.

A new virtual race challenge organized by the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon will provide motivation for runners and walkers to stay active through the winter and spring and help them learn more about the state of Illinois.

A group of about a dozen people meet several mornings a week at Champaign’s West Side Park to do tai chi, stretching or other types of exercises. They’ve been meeting since April, after their regular fitness program ended in-person classes and moved online.

Lina Mongwa took the distressing events of this year and addressed them in a positive way through running.

Bicycle riding has soared during the coronavirus pandemic. Cynthia Hoyle — a certified instructor with the League of American Bicyclists and the chairperson of the C-U Safe Routes to Schools Project — has seen many more people cycling during the past several months, particularly families.

The winds on Labor Day weekend — more than 20 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph — were what windsurfers hope for all summer. On the Sunday before Labor Day, a group of windsurfers was zipping across Clinton Lake.

Bike Club volunteers are at it again — and latest creation might be their best yet

With most races canceled this year or converted to virtual events, Marc Mills of Savoy has started organizing small, informal fun runs and races.

About 60 cyclists braved Saturday’s heat to spend much of the day riding through the cornfields of central Illinois.

Gyms were among the businesses that reopened when Illinois hit Phase 4 of its Restore Illinois plan in late June. Some fitness centers offered online classes during the shutdown and outdoor fitness classes during Phase 3. But if you took a break from working out the last few months, you’ll n…

Bonnie McElwee celebrated her 80th birthday with Gatorade and GU, running through Urbana for more than five hours with friends by her side.

Mary McGrew planned to walk the Christie Clinic Illinois 5K this year, her first time as a participant in the weekend’s races. After the races were canceled, McGrew walked her 5K as a virtual race on May 23. She wasn’t going to let anything stop her from completing it — not coronavirus and n…

Since she retired from teaching five years ago, Pam Negangard of Sidney has been going to group fitness classes every day at the Stephens Family YMCA.

'We’ve got a whole COVID-19 race series. It’s been fun having something to look forward to, when you’ve done the work and are not sure when anything real is going to happen.'