Although the holiday season is just getting started, it's not too early to start thinking about New Year's resolutions. If committing to a healthy and active lifestyle is part of your vision for yourself in 2013, the Comox Valley Road Runners can help.

The 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 2013 clinic, which begins Jan. 19, 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.

The clinic is once again coordinated by Leslie Dargie and a host of veteran runners who provide encouragement and support. "Back in 1999 I decided I was getting old and soft," Dargie says. "My husband and sons had been running for a couple of years already, thanks to the CVRR clinic, and I felt it was a good time for me to begin my running career. I convinced my daughter to do it with me and the rest, as they say, is history." Since that tentative start, Dargie has gone on to run ultramarathons and has led the annual clinic several times.

The clinic culminates in a 5K Fun Run on March 16, 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 $45, increasing to $50 on Jan. 1, 2013. 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," Dargie 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."

 

– Comox Valley Road Runners