Late every winter, groups of women (and some men) gather twice a week in city parks and on school tracks statewide to run or walk for fitness. Called "the clinics," these groups meet for free, leading 10 weeks of workouts that build toward a 5K.
2016 will be the 19th year for the clinics, with the first sessions meeting the week of Feb. 28 and the finale 5K set for May 7. But they don't just magically occur year after year.
Volunteers in individual cities step up to direct them, and those volunteer directors must attend training conducted by the volunteer officers of Women Run Arkansas -- a statewide running club affiliated with the Road Runners Club of America.
Women Run Arkansas provides the clinics' training guidelines, but the directors do everything else, including recruiting helpers, finding a safe place to hold the workouts and deciding when to meet.
It's a big responsibility, says statewide clinic coordinator Linda Starr of Conway. And "here it is almost time to train the directors for the 2016 clinics," she adds.
Directors must attend one of two meetings in the Conway Regional Health & Fitness Center at Conway Regional Medical Center, either 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 10 or the same time frame Jan. 14.
Starr says, so far, directors have volunteered to conduct clinics in Alma, Batesville, Beebe, at Bella Vista's Bella Vista Lake neighborhood, Benton/Bryant, Brinkley, Cabot, Clinton, Conway, Corning, Danville, El Dorado, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Glenwood, Greenbrier, Guy, Harrison, Heber Springs, Hope, Hot Springs, Hot Spring County, Jacksonville, Jonesboro, Kirby, Little Rock's Hillcrest neighborhood, Little Rock's J.A. Fair
High School, Lonoke, Marshall, Morrilton, Mountain View, North Little Rock, Paragould, Paris, Perryville, Pine Bluff, Prescott, Russellville, Searcy, Stuttgart, far western Little Rock/Perry County, Wynne, Vilonia and Yellville.
She adds that the list could grow.
"If anyone does not see their location listed and is interested in having a clinic," Starr says, "they can contact me or my assistant, Yvonne Schrepfer," who lives in Morrilton. Starr can be reached at lstarr38@sbcglobal.net or (501) 472-7979; Schrepfer's email is yvonnepwoc@bellsouth.net.
The clinic finale will once again be the Women Can Run/Walk 5K in Conway, and there will be a pasta party the evening before.
Starr says the website womenrunarkansas.net will once again be the registration portal for all the clinics as well as the 5K and pasta party.
"The ability to sign up should be available after the first of the year and will include the locations having clinics along with their contact information," she says.
ActiveStyle on 12/14/2015