Each year, he shaved a few hundredths from his time, and he ran his personal best 1,500 meters at the last meet of his college career. He won his heat in dramatic fashion, passing another runner down the final stretch and finishing in a speedy 4:19.

But after he graduated, Temple found fewer opportunities to compete. He ran at a few open college meets, but taking the time to travel became more difficult. Soon, he was running almost exclusively in 5- and 10K road races, which are as plentiful as Starbucks outlets in Lincoln Park. But Temple still longed for the track.

So in 2002, he was thrilled to learn that Universal Sole, a Roscoe Village running and fitness store, planned to host an open series of meets called Tuesdays at the Track. The first competition was at the gorgeous year-old track at River Park in Ravenswood, where it continues this year with the third and final meet on Tuesday 28.

Paul Peters, Universal Sole's owner, hatched the idea after hearing many stories similar to Temple's (indeed, many of the tales came from his own staff). "A lot of them ran in high school and college," he says. "I thought we could put together some low-key, all-comers events, and provide people with an opportunity to get on the track and have fun."

To keep the meet manageable, Peters limited the number of events. But the day includes a good cross-section of track-and-field standbys, including races of 100, 800, 1,500 and 5,000 meters, plus a 4 x 400–meter relay and the long jump. The first meet attracted about 50 athletes, ranging from high-school students to Masters runners like Temple (who shook off enough rust to win the men's open division with a respectable 4:33 in the 1,500 meters).

Word got out, and the second meet, a month later, attracted even more track-starved Chicagoans. The race also included a mile-long race walk (at the request of the Chicago Walkers) and a triple jump. In 2003, the pole vault became a regular fixture, and participation grew. Now in its fourth season, this year's Tuesdays at the Track meets have continued the tradition of mixing a variety of running events—everything from 50 to 3,000 meters—with relay races and a couple of field events.

The meets remain decidedly low-key: Nobody will be disqualified for a false start, and there are no high-tech timing devices to determine thousandths-of-a-second differences in finishing times. And there's only one heat for the longer running events, meaning the fastest runners are on the track at the same time as the slowest (and the youngest with the oldest).

Still, the aspect of competition is important. "You could definitely run a mile anytime you want," Temple says. "But it's nice to do it when you're timed and competing against other people. There are other people around to push you."

Although it's not the only game in town (the University of Chicago Track Club holds a more extensive summertime meet series in Hyde Park), a track meet in the heart of the city is still a rarity. And at a mere $5 per event, it is very accessible.

"The meets are for people who like track and field, and hopefully they introduce new people to the sport," Peters says. "We let them know what a track meet's all about."

And for somebody like Temple, the races offer a unique opportunity to return to his first love. "I like going back to the track," he says. "This is where I started running. I didn't do road races first. I did track first. It's getting back to my roots."

This year's final Tuesdays at the Track meet begins at 6:30pm Tuesday 28.