The Temple mother of five uses the city's new Trail Blazers Challenge program to fulfill homeschooling requirements as a family.

"This way, we can all be together," she said.

The program challenges residents to complete all of Temple's 12 trails in 12 weeks. Lisa Potts, Sammons Community Center manager, created the initiative to show what the city parks have to offer.

"Temple has so many great parks," Ms. Potts said. "There's a community need for activities for families."

She expected about 50 people to sign up, but more than 100 residents, mostly seniors, have registered for the program. Participants receive a sheet to record dates and mileage, and everyone gets a certificate of completion at an awards presentation Dec. 12.

Parks and Leisure Services director Ken Cicora said the Trail Blazers Challenge brings attention to health and wellness in the city. The department has conducted surveys, showing that residents actually want more hiking and biking trails.

"It can have a larger effect to get people exercising more," he said.

In the coming months, the city will add two more trails to its collection. At 1.25 miles, Pepper Creek Trail is between FM 2305 and Airport Road and opens in November. Friars Creek Trail, which runs from South Temple Park to Marlandwood Road will be the longest at 2.25 miles, opening in February.

The program is part of Parks and Leisure's year-long Commit 2 Fit community wellness campaign that started in April.

Participants can complete more than one trail each week, and there's still time to get involved with the challenge. For details, call 298-5597.

etoman@temple-telegram.com