LITTLE ROCK — No jingling before December, that’s what I say.
But who listens? Not the retailers who strung up Christmas lights before Halloween this year. Shame, shame on them.
But let no shame fall near the Arthritis Foundation’s annual Jingle Bell Run/Walk, set for 11 a.m. Saturday in the Little Rock River Market District. Saturday is - yes - Dec. 1.
December hauls its jingling old box of Christmas traditions down from the attic, and so the foundation may without shame invite its donors once again to tie bells to their shoes and walk or run around in several Arkansas cities.
After Saturday’s event in Little Rock, runners and walkers can support the foundation again Sunday afternoon at running events in Rogers, or wait until Dec. 8 to ambulate near Hot Springs. (ActiveStyle has delicately refused to lift the veil covering the Jonesboro Jingle Bell Run already held on ... I will not say what precipitate day in November.)
Little Rock’s 5K has a certified course that begins at Third and Collins streets near the Clinton Presidential Center. Racers who want to know exactly how fast they are and who want to try for racing trophies will be chip-timed. Timing is optional, but only racers who wear a timer are eligible for an award.
A 1-mile walk (no timers, no awards) will begin at Third and Dean Kumpuris streets at 11:10 a.m.
Registration for the 5K costs $35 ($30 without a timing chip). The 1-miler costs $25.
Packet pickup will be noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the foundation office, 10 Corporate Hill Drive, Suite 340, in Little Rock.
Race-day registration will be accepted from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. in the presidential park.
More information is at (501) 664-4591 and aharris@arthritis.org.
Jingle in Rogers
The Rogers Jingle Bell Run/ Walk for Arthritis will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday near the Frisco Stage in the old downtown.
But first, children 10 and younger will scamper in the Elf Chase Fun Run - in which the kids chase an elf. That starts at 3:55 p.m.
Race-day registration ($25 for the chip-timed 5K, $15 for the elfin run) will be accepted near the start from 3 to 3:45 p.m.
More information is at (501) 664-7243 or whudgeons@arthritis.org.
And in Hot Springs
But wait - there’s another.
The annual Jingle Bell Run/Walk at Garvan Woodland Gardens near Hot Springs begins at 9 a.m. Dec. 8in the gardens parking lot.
ActiveStyle will have more about that event next week.
Let the watching begin
Every winter, Arkansans bundle up and pile onto barges and boats to watch majestic bald eagles as they ... sit in trees, mostly.
Annual barge tours have begun at Lake Ouachita State Park in Mountain Pine, one of several popular eagle-watching venues statewide. The lake is a winter home to lots of juvenile and mature eagles.
Tours will launch from the park marina at 2 p.m. every Saturday through February. They take about 75 minutes. Tickets, available at the visitor center, cost $9 for adults, $5 for kids 6-12 (free for those under 6). Reservations are required and space is limited.
Private tours are possible for groups of 10 or more.
Watchers are urged to dress warmly and take binoculars and cameras. More information is available from (501) 767-9366 and susan.adkins@arkansas.gov.
Girl on the run
Molly Barker, founder and CEO of Girls on the Run, will speak about her national nonprofit organization at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Sturgis Hall at the Clinton School of Public Service.
Girls on the Run aims to empower girls from third to eighth grade through a curriculum of social games and lessons that involve running. The nonprofit’s 191 councils include Girls on the Run of Northwest Arkansas, girlsontherunofnwa.org.
The Northwest Arkansas group uses a training program for the annual Girls on the Run 5K (which was Nov. 17) as a springboard for after-school enrichment programs at elementary and middle schools in Benton, Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville and Lincoln.
Admission to Barker’s talk is free. Seats can be reserved at pub licprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or (501)683-5239.
Race for a Reason 5K
At the University of Central Arkansas, the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority’s Beta Lambda chapter will conduct Race for a Reason at 9 a.m. Saturday. The 5K run/walk to benefit Area 17 of the Arkansas Special Olympics.
All registration money will be donated to Special Olympics.
The route will begin on Bruce Street at the second speed bump in front of the Farris Center. Racers will follow Bruce across Farris and Hubbard streets and turn right on Timberpeg Street. They’ll take Timberpeg to Salem Road, then turn right off Salem onto College Avenue, left off College onto Farris, right off Farris onto Robinson, right off Robinson to College and then back to Bruce and that second speed bump - once the start but now the finish line.
There will be awards for the overall male and female runners, overall male and female walkers and the overall team.
Registration costs $35 ($40 on race day), which includes a T-shirt.
More information is at raceforareason5k.wordpress.com or (501) 622-9986.
ActiveStyle, Pages 26 on 11/26/2012