If committing to a healthy and active lifestyle is part of your vision for yourself in 2015, the Comox Valley Road Runners can help.
Their annual Learn to Run Clinic has helped hundreds of people improve fitness and establish a simple, affordable fitness routine based on running or walking.
The 2015 Clinic, which begins Jan. 17, is a fun 10-week clinic geared to people of all fitness levels, from couch potato to novice runner to the lapsed runner who wants to get back on track. Held at 9 a.m. every Saturday, each session includes a guest speaker on topics such as nutrition, motivation, and injury prevention. After the presentation participants break into pace groups based on current fitness levels and personal goals, and will go for a 30-minute run, walk, or walk/run.
In his second year as the clinic co-ordinator, Fred Bigelow is looking forward to supporting the participants with the hugely positive transformations that result from a relatively modest commitment to personal health and fitness. “Like the runners and walk/runners I trained with over the years, it is amazing to watch folks punch though goals that only a few weeks before they never would have thought possible!”
The clinic culminates in a 5K Fun Run on March 21, which gives participants a chance to “go the distance” and also serves as a graduation ceremony to wrap up the clinic.
To register, contact Courtenay Recreation or drop by the Lewis Centre. Registration forms are also available at Extreme Runners and can be submitted there as well. The cost is $50, increasing to $55 on Jan. 10. The registration fee includes the clinic manual and running log, a technical T-shirt, coaching and support, and the camaraderie of others challenging themselves in a similar way.
“Our hope is that participants will all become happy runners and walkers,” Bigelow says, “and that they’ll adopt fitness and a healthy lifestyle for life. No matter what level of fitness people start the clinic with, they invariably end it with an enormous sense of accomplishment.
“Following the clinic, many participants join the many groups that meet on the trails, on the roads, on the track, and even in the pool to carry on their running and walk running – it’s such a fantastic way to experience the best of what the Valley has to offer!”
– Comox Valley Road Runners
