On the run

LITTLE ROCK — Morning routines are about to change for a group of women in Hot Springs Village.

These 40 to 50 women have formed a sisterhood with a goal of spending 10 weeks in training sessions designed to bring women together and promote an active, healthy lifestyle.

A celebration of that goal will be a competition at Conway High School-West on May 12, when more than 1,000 women from around the state will take part in the Women Can Run 5K run/walk through the streets of the city.

“The average age of the women taking part in the training clinic here is around 60 years old,” said Jean Schooler, the clinic’s director in the Village. “Some are beginning runners, and some are intermediate veteran runners, but few are really fast.”

While the team being assembled reflects the population in the gated community, the runners stand up to any other team in dedication and determination, just like their leader.

Schooler is 77 and has been a runner for 38 years. She ran a marathon five years ago and had been running in a series of Grand Prix class races for several years, when she was called six years ago to lead the local clinic for Women Can Run Arkansas. She has been the organizer of the local clinic in Hot Springs Village every year since then.

“We have all classes of runners and walkers,” Schooler said. “We meet at 8:30 every Tuesday and Friday mornings at Woodland Auditorium, and we use their parking lots and the one for the church nearby for the beginners.”

More experienced walkers and runners use Village trails in the area, and the bestrunners travel along some of the community’s less-traveled streets. The important thing is that the women gather togetherto offer advice and encouragement to each other, Schooler said.

“We have a lot of leaders, so we can divide the women into walking groups of four or five teams and lead them over the 10 weeks,” she said.

The training is geared to the person’s experience and abilities.

“Beginning walkers will walk at their normal rate for five minutes to warm up,” Schooler said. “Then we begin by walking five minutes and then pick up the pace until it is uncomfortable to talk for a minute, and then back to normal pace, then repeat the cycles for 30 minutes.”

The next week, after a five-minute warm up, participants walk briskly for two minutes, then back to their slower pace for 3 1/2 minutes, continuing the cycles for 30 minutes, she said.

By the end of the clinic’s 10 weeks, the walkers are keeping the faster pace going for the entire 30 minutes.

“We start on the first full week in March, so it will be Tuesday, March 6. Our last clinic is May 11, and the teams go to Conway after that to compete the next day,” she said.

The leaders cannot compete in the big event in Conway, but their job includes of-fering support for the teams during the event.

“While they can’t compete, they run or walk with their teams, encouraging them and helping them do their best,” she said.

Women Run Arkansas has been hosting the clinics for 15 years. The clinics are free, but there is a $20 fee for entry into the final 5K.

“The idea is for the clinic to set up a program and have women who are not used to running, then improve their level of fitness with a goal of taking part in the Conway event,” Schooler said.

Women Run Arkansas was formed in 2000 to form a running and walking club for women.

“The mission of WRA is to address the special needs of women’s fitness, while promoting health and fitness through running and walking,” according to an announcement on the club’s website. “WRA helps women get moving.”

The annual competition was created to inspire women to get out and walk or run. With some of the runners and walkers taking part in their first competitive event, the club’s goal is the get more women involved in ways that will profit fitness.

Like the leaders who trained them, participants from previous clinics andraces often return to compete or to cheer on their sister athletes.

Schooler said she started running when her son was a senior in high school.

“I had been teaching in Midland, Texas, when I decided not to teach that year and be with my son as he enjoyed his senior year,” she said.

“I would ride to school with him and then walk back. Soon I was running a couple of blocks and then walking again. Soon I was running all the way home and eight months later entered my first 5K race.”

Along with women in Hot Springs Village, other Tri-Lakes teams of runners and walkers will be training inBenton, Sheridan and Hot Springs.

For more information, contact clinic director Linda Starr at (501) 328-9255 or (501) 472-7979 or visit the club’s website at womenrunarkansas.net.

Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.

Tri-Lakes, Pages 55 on 02/23/2012

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