"Closing time, but not goodbye. Thank you, Bonney Lake, for twenty years of miles together." That's how Fleet Feet said farewell to its store at 19685 State Route 410 in a Facebook post, as The News Tribune reported on Sept. 30, 2026. The post went on: "Find us down the road at our Puyallup store. We will keep the lights on."
The shoe wall is the obvious loss. The bigger one is the weekly schedule. The store ran Bonney Lake's two standing group sessions, one walk and one run, and both stopped when it closed. Today, every organized run or walk on a Bonney Lake runner's calendar starts in another town.
Two weeknights that dropped off the calendar
The Monday group was a walk. Fleet Feet Bonney Lake Walking Group met every Monday at 6 p.m. at Post and Pour in Tehaleh, 19001 Cascadia Blvd. E., for a 45-minute walk on the trails. The group invited kids, family and friends, plus friendly dogs on leashes. Its page on Fitvil, the sign-up platform Fleet Feet uses for group runs, now says "This is not an active group" and shows no scheduled events.
The Wednesday group was a run. It met at 6 p.m. at the SR 410 store, and its Fitvil page is also marked inactive with nothing scheduled.
Before the closure, those two nights meant you could walk with a group on Monday and run with one on Wednesday without leaving town. As of late October, no other weekly run or walk group has started up in Bonney Lake, Tehaleh or Lake Tapps. The closest Meetup outings run by South Sound Walkers and Tacoma Runners for late October and early November are in Buckley, Orting, Puyallup and Tacoma.
Why the groups moved to Meridian
Fleet Feet folded the Bonney Lake store into a nearby one. Wade Pannell owns the Tacoma, Olympia, Bonney Lake and Puyallup stores. In a Sept. 10 Facebook post quoted by The News Tribune, he wrote that he and his wife, Julie, had owned the Bonney Lake store for eight years. Before that it was the vision of its original owner, Paul Morrison. Pannell wrote that Morrison opened the shop "because he believed that a run shop should feel like a second living room and that his hometown deserved a special retail experience."
When the lease ended in September, the business moved into the Puyallup store at 115 S. Meridian. According to the paper, Pannell said the reason was space:
"The larger footprint will allow us to focus our training groups, community efforts ... all into one location."
He also promised "fuller inventory, combined group runs and events, all with the same staff and service you have come to know and love."
The Puyallup store only joined the Fleet Feet family recently. In December 2024, The News Tribune reported that the owners of South Sound Running, with stores in Olympia and Puyallup, were retiring and selling to Fleet Feet Puget Sound. Within two years, the shop that came with that sale became the meeting point for Bonney Lake's runners.
So here's the weekly group for anyone in Bonney Lake right now. Fleet Feet Puyallup's Tuesday Night Fun Run & Walk meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m. outside the store at 115 S. Meridian. It's free and open to runners and walkers alike. The Fleet Feet Puget Sound community page calls it a 3-mile route, and the group's Fitvil page says 3 to 5 miles. That page lists only two weekly groups, Puyallup on Tuesdays and Tacoma on Mondays at 6 p.m. Regulars can pick up a punch card at their first run, and 10 punches earn a free prize from one of the store's local partners.
Those Tuesday runs start at 6 p.m. in downtown Puyallup, after a drive down the hill. As daylight saving time ends on Sunday, they'll also be in the dark.
Every race on the fall calendar starts somewhere else
The same pattern holds for races. None of the late-fall and holiday events within an easy drive of Bonney Lake is in Bonney Lake. Here they are in order, starting this weekend:
- Haunted Hustle 5K & 10K, Saturday, Oct. 31, 9 a.m., at Clark's Creek South in Puyallup. Runners and walkers are both welcome.
- CMMS Booster Club Turkey Trot, Saturday, Nov. 14, 9 a.m., on the grounds of Cougar Mountain Middle School in Graham. It's an untimed 5K walk/run that benefits the booster club and includes a food drive for the school community.
- Never Ending Nolte 6-Hour, Saturday, Nov. 14, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at Nolte State Park in Enumclaw. Runners circle a 1.4-mile loop, and optional donations go to the Washington Trails Association. The event page says permitting was still in process.
- Gobble Gobble 5K & 10K, Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, at Pierce College Puyallup. The 10K starts at 8:30 a.m. and the 5K at 8:40, and donations go to the Stahl Jr. High food pantry.
- Ten Trails Active Club 5K Turkey Trot, Thanksgiving Day, 8:30 a.m., at 23089 SE Fir St. in Black Diamond. Nonmembers pay $10, the club suggests a donation, and food donations go to a local food bank.
- Puyallup Donut Run, Friday, Nov. 27, 9 a.m., a free 5K that starts at Fleet Feet Puyallup.
- Holiday Grinch 5K, Sunday, Dec. 6, 9 a.m., starting and finishing at Firemind Brewing, 211 W. Stewart Ave. in Puyallup.
- Christmas Eve Ugly Sweater, Thursday, Dec. 24. The 5K run/walk starts at 10 a.m. at Bradley Lake Park in Puyallup, after a 9:45 a.m. Elf Dash for kids.
Puyallup hosts five of the eight, including both post-holiday runs that start at a brewery or the running store. If you want a race where the food drive stays close to home, the Graham and Black Diamond events have one built in. The Nolte 6-Hour in Enumclaw has its own format. You run the loop as many times as you like within the window, so it suits a group of friends who want to come and go.
Running from your own front door
Without a group, everyday miles in Bonney Lake happen on the city's own trails, and each one works a little differently.
Fennel Creek Trail is the longest. The city's July 2024 draft parks and trails plan puts it at 2.66 miles, with a separate 0.43-mile downtown spur. The paved section starts at the 185th Avenue East trailhead and runs to the newest finished segment near Sumner-Buckley Highway East and 192nd Avenue East. A connection to Locust Avenue is in the city's 2026–2031 transportation improvement program, with engineering planned for 2026 and construction for 2028.
Allan Yorke Park is shorter and less formal. The same draft plan lists 1.18 miles of trail in the park. It notes that the waterfront and ballfields mostly lack paved path connections, and that a natural trail runs from Field #3 to the cul-de-sac on 195th Avenue Court East. AllTrails lists the Allan Yorke Park Loop as an easy 0.8 miles. A review from April 2026 mentions muddy spots and tight parking during baseball games. That's useful to know as the wet months settle in.
Tehaleh is where the old Monday walk used to go out from Post and Pour. The community's parks and trails page lists more than 40 miles of trails and 18 parks. If you're on foot, skip the Trek at Tehaleh. It's a mountain-bike park, and a 2024 community article says hiking and dog walking aren't allowed there.
Of these, Fennel Creek's plan has the clearest timeline. The Locust Avenue link is scheduled for construction two years from now. The weekly group runs have no return date at all.
If you're a Bonney Lake runner or walker and you're curious how the trails near your street affect what your home is worth, Bobbie Jo Sells Homes is right here in town and happy to talk it through. Get your free home valuation, and we'll talk trails along the way.
