Actually, Sage Rountree corrects, this may be the perfect time to start thinking about goals for the fall. Rountree lives in Chapel Hill and is perhaps best known for her yoga-for-athletes books and clinics, which she conducts internationally. She’s also a coach, working with both elite and beginner athletes, and a marathoner (3:43:00 at Boston 2008), Ironperson (13:08:17, Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2009), ultramarathoner ( 5:10:45 in this year’s Frosty 50K trail race). And she has two kids.

“Picking your next goal before your race is the perfect way to channel that extra energy during the taper,” says Rountree.

While I haven’t quite begun to taper — the Roan Moan is just a week out but the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon isn’t until Sept. 5 — I knew what she meant. Two big goals I’ve yet to tackle, but they will soon pass. Then what? The last thing I want to do is let months of training fizzle while I ponder what’s next.

When I mentioned the Second Empire fall series, Rountree was on board.

Sage Rountree likely was thinking about her next race when she finished this one.

“Series are great,” she says. “They’re a way of sustaining a goal. In the triathlon series, for instance, it takes the pressure off any one single race. You approach it as part of a whole.”

And, she adds, you establish a sense of camaraderie. “You see the same competitors, you go up against the same people in your age group.”

I like a series for another reason. There were eight races in Second Empire’s Spring Series. In my age group (50-54), no one did every race and only two guys did seven. By my cyphering, if I had done all eight (I did one: the Second Empire 5K Classic), I might have cracked the top 10 finishers. (The No. 10 guy only did three races.) Persistence, in a series based on cumulative points, equals glory.

A series isn’t the only kind of sustained goal. Fall is when a number of 0-to-5K, walk-to-run training programs kick in. I’m a graduate of the Fit-tastic program offered through The Athlete’s Foot in Cameron Village. The 10-week program, which begins Aug. 18, takes non-runners and gradually introduces them to running. At first, you run a minute, then walk for two. Over time that ratio flips until you’ve weeded out the walking altogether and are capable of running the entire Monster Dash 5K (3.1 miles American) on Oct. 31. The program launched in fall 2008, has added a spring version, and has had 425 participants. (For more on beginner runner programs, check out this GGNC post from March 31.)

For runners, in fact, fall is the time to ramp up. Cooler weather means more races, from 5Ks to marathons. Cyclists are more likely to suffer what Rountree refers to as the “post-partum blues,” as the onset of cooler weather and shorter days causes a significant drop in planned events. But they aren’t without options, either. A century ago, pro bike racers in Europe got antsy in the off-season. So they came up with cyclo-cross racing — basically racing modified road bikes off-road — which gave them reason to train between the warm weather road events. Today, cyclo-cross racing stands on its own, and the North Carolina Cyclo-Cross Series gives Tarheel cyclists reason to keep racing throughout the winter.

A long fall hike at Crowders Mountain is an admirable goal. (Photo courtesy North Carolina State Parks.)

Your fall goal can be whatever you make it. Races are good, so are classes, and chances are your municipal parks & recreation department has a wide offering for the fall. Here in Cary, for instance, there are various levels of Taekwondo (beginner, for families, for kids as young as 4), dance classes, cardio classes, aerobic classes and yoga classes (including chair yoga), as well as assorted team sports (basketball, volleyball, softball), a tennis ladder — pert near anything you’d want to do. You can even come up with your own goal: By Thanksgiving, be able to hike the 7.2-mile Sycamore Trail at Umstead State Park, or the 6.2-mile Ridgeline Trail linking Crowders Mountain State Park west of Charlotte with Kings Mountain State Park in South Carolina, or the 5-mile Moores Wall Loop Trail at Hanging Rock State Park.

The point: Fall needn’t be a wind-down time. Start planning now and you’ll find plenty of incentive to keep working. The season may be winding down, but you don’t have to.

I flinched. “That’s the one we’re doing today?” My grip on the steering wheel tightened.

It was early Saturday and Alan and I were headed to Blowing Rock for a mountain training ride. Our objective for the day was the 57.1-mile Blowing Beech route, which begins and ends in picturesque downtown Blowing Rock, with a mid-way detour up Beech Mountain. Just three and a half miles, but in those three and a half miles we would gain 1,700 feet.

Why?

We were training for the Roan Moan two weeks out. The Roan Moan is a popular mountain century ride that goes along civilly enough for 71 miles. Then it begins a 7-mile, 1,700-foot climb up to Carver’s Gap, elevation 5,512 feet.

“And the climb up Roan,” Alan said paging ahead … . I let my mind intentionally drift, tuning back in as Alan was putting his Phil Liggett on the ascent, “really, it’s only the first two miles you need to worry about. After that, it, well, it doesn’t level out. But you can start using gears again.” I pictured myself wearing Phil’s renowned “mask of pain!”

Alan waits out a rain delay on NC 194.

Doing a mountain century is one of my two goals for this summer. For years, my adventure accomplice Alan Nechemias has been gently encouraging me to try one. At the start of every cycling season, I’ve proclaimed, “This is the year.” At the end of every cycling season I’ve found myself saying, “Well, dang, maybe next year?” This year, after extensively discussing the merits of the various mountain century rides — the Blue Ridge Brutal, Bridge-to-Bridge, Hilly Hellacious, Assault on Mount Mitchell and the Roan Moan among them — we concluded that the latter might be the best for a first-timer. I made the ultimate commitment: I got out the plastic and registered online.

Alan’s oration from John Summerson’s “The Complete Guide to Climbing (by Bike) in the Southeast” worried me. I hadn’t romanticized doing a rigorous mountain century (easy to do watching Contador, Shelck, et al pumping their way up the Alps and Pyrenees) but I was starting to realize that, with two weeks to go, I wasn’t adequately prepared, either. I’d been riding, three times a week, mostly two-hour rides on the mountain bike at hilly Umstead. I’d even done a couple mountain training rides. But my longest ride of the year was 62 miles, and the toughest climbing I’d done was the Triple Hump — and of the three humps I’d had to stop briefly going up Pilot Mountain and I’d cramped climbing Hanging Rock. I had been training, but not training smart.

That was in stark contrast to my preparation for Summer Goal #2: running a half marathon. For it, I plunked down $125 and joined a training program through FAST (Functional and Specific Training) Coaching. The program included a day-by-day training schedule for the 12-week program, two organized training runs a week (one to work on pace, the other distance), and access to two coaches. When I went into the program, my goal was to simply finish a half marathon. After four weeks, I had little doubt I could finish; My thoughts had shifted to how fast I could finish. I didn’t need a list of 10 reasons why coaches help, I had physical proof.

Left to my own devices on the bike, I was still worried about simple survival.

We pulled into Blowing Rock a little before 10 under an unsettled sky. The forecast called for a 30 percent chance of rain in the morning, increasing to 60 percent by mid-afternoon. After years of getting suckered by bad forecasts, we had no second thoughts about pushing off.

After a gorgeous 5-mile descent down Shulls Mill Road, we jogged briefly onto NC 105 before heading southwest on Broadstone Road. Shortly after passing through Valle Crucis, we began a 4.5-mile climb up NC 194 that’s not in John Summerson’s cannon, but could be. (A MapMyRide profile shows the climb ranges from 6 to 9 percent.) That’s when the sky turned from ominous to overflowing. A little spit at first, and then — with about a half mile to go to the top, with our glasses fogged and bodies soaked through, Alan steered us off the road and under the meager eve of a small building.

“Now it’s just unsafe,” he said.

If we had $20, we agreed that we would have flagged down one of the ubiquitous pickups passing by and caught a ride back to Blowing Rock. Instead, we until the rain let up, reversed course and headed back. We wound up doing three good climbs over 38 miles, but it was far short of the 57-miler with the mettle-testing climb up Beech Mountain that I felt I needed in preparation for Roan Mountain. My schedule precluded a return training trip this week, next week is too close to the race.

Had I sought out a cycling coach, I doubtles would have more mountain miles in the saddle. I’m sure I would have done more long rides, probably a couple in the 70-mile range, and I likely would have done weekly interval work. And I know I  would have put in far fewer junk miles, or miles basically just for the sake of riding.  At this point, for this ride, it’s too late for a coach, even a Chris Carmichael. Now, it’s desperation time.

Anybody know if Tony Robbins is still around?

“That’s it,” Gavin confirmed. “Now we just have a couple hundred meters to go.”

Not what I wanted to hear on this steamy (92 degrees, 85 percent humidity) evening training run. We’d already done three mile-long fast tempo miles; this was No. 4 and I just wanted it to be over — now, not 200 meters from now. But I was running with my coach and my training group, and so, despite the militant protests by my gasping lungs and cramping legs, I poured it on for another 200 meters.

Once again I realized how much I need — and yes, enjoy — my half-marathon training program.

Tonight, for instance, not only would I have not run those last 200 meters, I probably wouldn’t have run, period. It was hot and muggy, I was feeling lethargic, I had a good book I wanted to finish on the couch. But not running really wasn’t an option because of my training program. For one, there’s the peer … pressure, I guess, for lack of a better word. I’m not pressured by the group, I’m pushed to run because I enjoy running with them. And, every week I realize how much the program is helping me as a runner. Helping me by pushing me, as it did this evening, and also by helping me to train smarter.

At the end of tonight’s run, Gavin said this would be the last of our speed workouts. The goal in the first half of our 12-week program had been to build speed; after tonight, we’d cut back on speed and start running longer — at a pace faster than we could have imagined six weeks earlier. It made sense, but I would never have come up with that game plan on my own. And he was certainly right about building speed: Tonight, my miles had all been at 7 minutes, far faster than I could have envisioned at the start of the program. When I signed on in May, I just wanted to be able to finish a half marathon. Now, I assume I’ll finish and am starting to think about a target time.

I didn’t dare entertain such aspirations six weeks ago. And I wouldn’t be now if I was preparing for a marathon on my own.

Coast

It can be hard to find a foot race once sweltering summer settles in — but it’s not surprising that if there’s a race to be found, it’ll be at the coast. A breeze (hopefully) coming off the water and a flat course help compensate for the heat. Two reasons you might consider the 28th Annual Tri Span 5K and 10K Saturday in Wilmington. Starts at the Wilmington Hilton on Water Street, goes through downtown, hangs a right across the Memorial Bridge to US 421, crosses back over the 3rd Street Bridge to Front Street and eventually back to the finish. $30 for either race. More details here.
Oh, and another reason to run: the 7:30 a.m. start time beats the heat.

Mountains

Looking to escape the heat? Or at least a little bit of it?
The Chargers and Rechargers hiking club will, in its own words, not be charging up Rich Mountain from Trout Lake near Blowing Rock on Saturday. “This will not be an ‘aerobic’ hike,” cautions hike leader Danielle Catoe, “if you wish to race up the mountain, please do not come on this hike. This 8-mile roundtrip hike is rated easy to moderate, gaining a little over 600 vertical feet on the way from scenic Trout Lake up to Rich Mountain.
Departs from the Trout Lake parking lot at 9:30 a.m. Contact Catoe at 828-898-3072 or dmcatoe@aol.com for more specifics. (For more about the club, go here.)

Piedmont

Years ago a group of ex-pat Aussies would gather every so often at Jordan Lake to watch the sun set. The reason? It was one of the few places in the region where you could savor a long sunset unobstructed by rolling hills covered with trees. Another place: Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area in Hillsborough, where long-abandoned quarry operations sliced away a west-facing portion of the mountain making for — long sunsets unobstructed by rolling hills covered with trees.
Saturday evening at 8, join a ranger for a short hike to this blight-turned-vista to watch “the big orange ball in the sky disappear behind Hillsborough.” Because the event is limited to 15, pre-registration is required, by calling the park office at (919) 383-1686.

* * *
Care to choose your own activity? Check these statewide calendars.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Coast Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running.

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Gavin Coombs and Sean Kurdys coach the half-marathon training program I’m in. Like other running programs that have sprouted the last few years, it’s intended to get you from Point A (the starting line) to Point B (the finish) in 12 weeks. Our program, designed by Sean’s FAST (Functional And Specific Training) Coaching and run through The Athlete’s Foot in Cameron Village, is roughly divided into two more specific A-to-B programs: Sean coaches first-time half-marathoners whose goal is to simply run and finish 13.1 miles, Gavin coaches experienced half-marathoners who want to improve their times.

At the start of the program we were given a sheet with 12 weeks worth of workouts. Some days call for speed work (six sets of 800s on a local track, for instance), some call for tempo work (running at race pace for 30 minutes), some for running a given amount of time.  Last Saturday, Gavin’s group, the one one I’ve gravitated to, was scheduled for a 9-mile run on greenways fanning out from the N.C. Museum of Art. One thing I especially like about the program is that Gavin, Sean and several mentors from The Athletes Foot racing team act as pacers. That’s how, three miles into Saturday’s run, I found myself running with Gavin, who tried to help me set an 8:20 pace.

“So,” I asked, “what’s your marathon experience?”

“Actually,” answered the tall, lanky, 24-year-old, “I just began running marathons this year.”

Over the next mile or so I learned of Gavin’s varied running past: Started out running the mile and two-mile in high school, got to N.C. State where they were flush with distance (5K) runners, so he switched to steeplechase. What he didn’t tell me and what I Googlediscovered later was that in high school he was a three-time national champ in the indoor mile, two mile and outdoor mile, and a 17-time state champion in Connecticut. He also neglected to mention that he was three-time All-ACC. Had I known all this, I might not have been quite as surprised by our next exchange. Getting back to the marathon discussion, Gavin mentioned that he had run in the inaugural Tobacco Road Marathon in Cary in March and the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon in May.

“How’d they go?” I asked

“Well,” he said, “I won my first race.” By “won” he didn’t mean that he’d won his age group or won some kind of first-timer trophy. He’d won the whole race, with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes and 50 seconds — fast enough to have won the Boston Marathon as recently as 1958. That’s a 5 minute and 34 second pace, meaning he ran each of 26.2 miles at a pace most people can’t keep up with on a bicycle going downhill.

“My second race didn’t go so well,” he said. And he wasn’t talking about the fact he’d only come in second in Vermont, shaving nearly four minutes off his Tobacco Road time. He was talking about winding up in a medical tent on an IV afterward. “We went out way too fast on that race,” Coombs said of he and fellow TAF teammate John Crews, who won with a time of 2:17:51.

We talked more about the races, about his training (his long runs are 18 to 22 miles), about what a great resource Umstead State Park is (“The hills are the best preparation for races. Hill miles count for a lot more than flat miles.”), about his next race, the Twin Cities Marathon in October. He hopes to break 2 hours and 19 minutes in Minnesota, and not for some arbitrary reason: 2:19:00 will qualify him for the 2012 Olympic trials.

“Really, though, I’m shooting for the 2016 Olympics,” he said. “I’ll be 30 then,” he said, a peak age for marathoners.

And I’ll be 60, telling anyone who will listen that I used to train with Gavin Coombs.

Photo: Gavin Coombs at the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon.

OK, so technically, at 14 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds of daylight there’s only one second of daylight more than there was yesterday and three more than there will be tomorrow. And we won’t be seeing appreciable changes in the length of day until late August. But spiritually, emotionally, physically, it’s important to know that today you have 14 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds of daylight (or 15 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds if you count civil twilight) to work with.  Taking full advantage of that 14 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds, you could, conceivably:

• Take a 217-mile bike ride (basically from Durham to Winston-Salem and back) at a 15 mph pace without stopping
• Run 88 miles (three and third marathons) and a 10-minute-per-mile pace.
• Take a 58-mile hike (nearly 3 laps on Umstead State Park’s 20 miles of hiking trails) at 15-minute-per-mile pace.
• Or do whatever you love that gets your blood pumping in the 3 hours, 34 minutes and 14 seconds you’ll have this afternoon after the whistle blows at 5.

It’s the longest day of the year. Use it all.

Her comment backed a thought that had been developing over the past 10 miles: Women trail runners, as evidenced by the number who were reluctant to let me pass, are competitive. Very competitive.

The real race was to those two little green boxes upper left.

Yesterday’s inaugural Mountains-to-Sea Trail 12-mile Challenge was my first foray into trail running. New event (to me), new opportunity to observe a different fitness culture. A thought or two.

• A surprising ratio of male-to-female runners, with 96 males and 55 females. Not sure why I found that surprising, considering the number of women who run, but I did.
• The bulk of runners were in their 30s, accounting for 56 of the 151 runners who showed up. 42 runners were in their 40s, 20 were in their 20s and 19 were in their 50s.  Youngest runner: Bobby Willix, 17, of Raleigh; Oldest runner: Frank Empire, 65, of Raleigh.
• At first blush, two porta-potties at the starting area did not seem like nearly enough to accommodate 151 runners, especially 151 runners eager to rid themselves of every unnecessary ounce before running 12 miles in the woods. However, with just 20 minutes until the 8 a.m. start and at least 30 runners ahead of me I learned that runners have remarkably fast and efficient digestive systems.
• A good psychological trick for running long distances: Don’t think of it as one long race, think of it as several short races between aid stations. The MST 12-mile Challenge had stations at the 3-, 6- and 9-mile marks — or roughly every point at which the trail came into contact with a roadway. Run three miles in the woods? No problem. (There was also an unauthorized aid station around mile 11, serving an amber liquid in paper cups.)
• When starting a trail race, position yourself with people you think you’ll be comfortable running with because you’re going to be with them for a while. Unlike a road race, where there’s plenty of room to pass, on a trail race you’re quickly funneled into a narrow single-track trail. Though the pack did separate itself somewhat at the start, I found myself in a conga line of 30 runners running in step until the first aid station. A few runners did attempt to pass, but that involved running off trail in the leaf litter, which was capable of hiding any number of ankle-twisting obstacles.
• 

  Or maybe the real race is to the feed at the end.

  How big a deal is tripping and falling over a rock or root in a trail run? For one, it’s presented as inevitable, not possible. In the “Important Runner Briefing” emailed to runners before the race, was this line: “You may fall — in fact you probably will fall. So, just get up and keep running.” And in her post-race Facebook comments, Lisa Garrity didn’t mention that she won her age category. Her most notable feat: “two sprawling falls and at least two dozen good saves, whew that was fun!!”

• How fast can you run 12 miles in the woods? In 1 hour, 17 minutes and 14 seconds, as demonstrated by overall race winner, 22-year-old Duncan Hope of Chapel Hill. (See full race results here.)
• “And the winners are …” . At the awards ceremony following the race, four of the top winners were announced. Then there was a pause. “You won’t believe this … “ began race organizer Kim Page with Bull City Running Co. in Durham. The battery on the official race laptop had died. The drumroll for results lasted until they were posted Sunday morning on the BCR Web site.
• Runners were given the option of wearing top-of-the-line, albeit used, trail shoes. Montrail offered its Mountain Masochist, La Sportiva its Wildcat. Sounds funky wearing shoes that other people have worn for hundreds of miles on the trail, but what the hey. I tried the Mountain Masochist and for my efforts got a free pair of merino wool socks made right here in America!
• The best thing about running 12 miles? Having no qualms about what you eat at the finish-line smorgasbord, including fist fulls of bite-size cinnamon rolls washed down with hot coffee.

This is a fitness culture I could get used to.

I should be concerned. (Did I mention that I haven’t run 12 miles since New Coke’s 15-minutes of fame?) Yet, I’m as excited as I would be for a race I was prepared for. And therein may lie the answer to why, at 53, I still race.

Or, more accurately, participate in races.

If I truly viewed this as a race, as a traditional win-or-lose competition — as I viewed football and basketball games in high school — then I would be concerned. I haven’t the strength or experience to compensate for minor injuries. And based on the seemingly prepared runners who showed up yesterday afternoon at packet pickup, a hobbler ain’t going to be competitive in this race. Fortunately, for the last 10 years or so the only competitive urges I’ve had are with myself: Can I set a new PR, can I hit my target number?

As a 17-year-old football player, I could no more imagine running 12 miles, let alone doing it through the woods, let alone doing it at age 53. (Just the notion of being 53 would have been beyond comprehension.) When I stand at the starting line this morning, I’ll have no expectations, not even (today at least) for hitting my target.  I just want to finish.

And if my body parts are mostly happy at the end, so much the better.

I’ll be reporting live from the inaugural MST 12-mile Challenge starting around 6:30 this morning. Follow the action on Twitter at JoeAGoGo.

For the first 37 years of her life, becoming a die-hard runner wasn’t on Carol Gore’s bucket list.

“I never had a desire to start running,” says Gore, who lives in Fort Mill, S.C. “In high school, I hated gym class. I was always the last one picked.”

Participants in fall's Fit-Tastic program queue up for the Monster Dash 5K, that program's graduation.

But two years ago, Gore worried that her 2-mile-a-day, five-day-a-week walking regimen was no longer cutting it in her battle of the bulge. A friend suggested running just a bit during her walks to burn more calories.

Gore gave it a try. She was smitten.

That November she ran an 8K (5 miles) Turkey Trot; the following year, 2009, a half marathon. She’s training for another of the 13.1-mile races in September. “I became hooked,” says Gore, who is 40.

During the nation’s first running boom in the 1970s, if you wanted to be a runner you were told to run – a lot. Thirty-, 40-, 50-mile weeks were de rigueur, running till it hurt the ultimate sign that you were on track. Only if you were suffering heatstroke or had a broken leg was it OK to walk.

Today, that philosophy has been flipped on its ear. As Gore discovered by taking her friend’s advice, if you want to be a runner it’s not only OK to walk, you may get in trouble with your coach if you don’t.

* * *

The notion of a running program that encourages walking was pioneered by Jeff Galloway, a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic team. As a marathoner, Galloway was intimately familiar with the toll running took on the body. In the 1970s, Runner’s World magazine estimated that about two-thirds of runners reported some form of injury – from shin splints to stress fractures – in any given year.

Many of those injuries, Galloway determined, were the result of trying to go too far, too fast. So he started his Galloway running program, which stressed the novel approach of running/walking.

The author, about to graduate from fall's Fit-tastic program.

“We can set up a run/walk ratio that will allow a beginner to sense some degree of success,” says John Lineberger, who oversees the Galloway program in Charlotte. “If an individual is new to running we can make the run 30 seconds, or 20 seconds, or 15 seconds, or 10 seconds of running followed by one minute of walking.” That ratio is gradually shifted as the runner is weaned off walking.

“A lot of people are prejudiced against Galloway,” says Gore, who enrolled in the Charlotte program to train for her half marathon. “They think the walking part is sissy stuff. But I was able to do 11:36 miles in my first half marathon, and I felt good the next day.”

So successful has the Galloway method proven that it’s been adapted for shorter runs. Especially popular are programs preparing nonrunners to run a 5K (3.1-mile) race in three months or less.

Amanda Clark, assistant manager of the Fleet Feet store in Raleigh, says the store’s 3-year-old No Boundaries program draws about 80 participants; Dexter Pepperman with Run for Your Life in Charlotte says that store’s program, offered five times a year, attracts about the same. Like most run/walk programs, these include at least two training sessions a week, coaching, seminars on training and nutrition, e-mail support and a T-shirt.

Most participants are female – about 70 percent, estimates Clark – and ages range from the 20s to 70. Some want to run the entire race; others are content to walk 3.1 miles.
Run/walk programs are driving a running renaissance that’s seen the number of runners in the U.S. increase 57 percent over the past 10 years, to 35.9 million, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. In 2008, the NGSA reported that running/jogging was the nation’s fastest-growing form of exercise.

* * *

Jean Hagen-Johnson, a charter member of the 10-year-old Beginner Women’s Running Program sponsored by the N.C. Roadrunners Club, says another reason run/walk programs are popular is the moral support. “What I gained the most in the running group,” says the 56-year-old Raleigh resident, “were the really nice friends who enjoyed running for the health benefits and the social aspect.”

Runners struggle together in the group format, they support one another and they advance together.

Georgia Hagen, Jean’s sister and the founder of NCRC’s beginner program, says the main reason women join the program isn’t to lose weight, although that motivator is up there. Rather, it’s to develop a consistent exercise program. The set workouts two or three days a week, the coaching and the sense of camaraderie can have a profound impact come graduation at the program’s target 5K.

“We have had women quite overweight. When they come across that finish line they have tears streaming down their faces,” Hagen says. “They’re so appreciative, so happy. It’s just so rewarding.”

Additional reading

To read more on the current running boom and what’s fueling it, go here.

To ready more about the walking-to-run philosophy, go here.

* * *

The programs

Raleigh

Running Start
Briefly: 11-week program, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Training began March 27 (late sign-up allowed).
Sponsor: Carolina Godiva Track Club.
Cost: $45 (includes club membership).
More info: gary.schultz@verizon.net or the club Web site.

No Boundaries
Briefly: 12 weeks, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Began last Wednesday (sign-up through April 4)
Sponsor: Fleet Feet, Raleigh.
Cost: $85.
More info: Fleet Feet at 832-8275 or here.

Fit-Tastic
Briefly: 13 weeks, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Under way (began March 15; late sign-up allowed); fall session begins in August.
Sponsor: The Athlete’s Foot, Raleigh.
Cost: $60.
More info: 828-3487 or here.

Women’s Beginner Running Program
Briefly: 10 weeks, target race is NCRC Women’s Distance Festival 5K on Sept. 26
Starts: Late July.
Sponsor: N.C. Roadrunners Club.
Cost: $75 (includes club membership).
More info: womenbeginnertraining@ncroadrunners.org.

Raleigh Galloway
Briefly: Five-month program, target race is City of Oaks Marathon and Half Marathon on Oct. 31.
Starts: May 22.
Sponsor: Jeff Galloway Training Programs.
Cost: $159 for first-timers, $99 for alumni.
More info: 270-0365  or go here.

Sole Sisters
Briefly: 10-year-old, 14-week, women-only program, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Began March 9. Registration for this session is closed.
Sponsor: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, NC Cancer Hospital.
Cost: Free.
More info: 843-8057, or the Web site.

Charlotte

Interval Running Training
Briefly: 10 weeks, target race is 6th Annual Morrison 5K/10K on May 15.
Starts: Underway (began March 11, late sign-up allowed).
Sponsor: Ballantyne Village YMCA, Charlotte
Cost: $40, $30 for facility members.
More info: (704) 716-4680 or the Web site.

Run for You
Briefly: 9 weeks, target race for current session: Right Moves for Youth Twilight 5K on May 8.
Starts: Underway (began March 16, late sign-up allowed) Coming sessions: May 15, Aug. 3, Oct. 12.
Sponsor: Run for Your Life, Charlotte.
Cost: $99.
More info: (704) 541-9665, or the Web site.

Charlotte Galloway
Briefly: Five-month program, target races vary.
Starts: May 8.
Sponsor: Jeff Galloway Training Programs.
Cost: $159 for first-time marathoners, $99 for marathon alumni, $95 for first-time half-marathoners, $75 for half-marathon alumni.
More info: runwalk26@yahoo.com, or go here.

Trail etiquette.

It’s a particularly relevant topic considering highs reaching into the mid to upper 70s accompanied by ample sunshine are forecast this weekend throughout much of the state. Warm weather, lots of sunshine, plenty of people on the trail. A few gentle reminders for making sure everyone has a good time out on the trail.

• Pay attention. Even as runners, bikers and other hikers took evasive action to dodge the aforementioned backpackers, they continued to block the trail. I appreciate the group experience, but it’s just as easy to appreciate in blocks of two or three. Hike/run/bike for a while with that group, then mix it up. But above all, just pay attention.
• Be alert. Runners especially like to hit the trail plugged in to music. I’m quick to admit a recent addition to Pandora; the unpredictable mix provides welcome surprises, especially on a trail I know too well. If you are plugged in, keep the volume low enough so it doesn’t block out the sounds around you. And keep to the side of the trail.
• Share the trail. I touched on this a couple weeks ago, but a quick reminder can’t hurt. When sharing the trail, mountain bikers yield to hikers and equestrians, hikers yield to equestrians. And runners? We’re quick on our feet: Don’t worry about us.
• Uphill yields to down. If you’re on a steep, narrow trail, the downhill hiker/biker/runner should yield to the person laboring uphill. While this is a general rule, there are times on a mountain bike where both parties know instinctively that the downhiller should have the right-of-way.
• “Passing.” This mainly applies to mountain bikers: When you come up behind a slower trail user, announce your intentions to pass. Something simple, such as “Passing on your left” is good. Announce your intentions far enough in advance so that the person has time to react. A “Thank you” after passing a cooperative party is a nice touch. And if they’re plugged in, don’t hear you and continue to take up the middle of the trail, well, be patient, take a breath, remind yourself you’re on the trail on a gorgeous day.
• Stop off the trail. If you stop to take a drink, check a map, eat some gorp, step off the trail.
• Don’t block the trailhead. Another annoying thing that happens at Umstead, at the Lake Crabtree neighborhood entrance: When people — runners and cyclists especially — finish their workout, some like to linger on the road and, based on how long they linger, discuss world politics. On my bike, I’ve actually made eye contact with folks blocking the road who STILL fail to move. Grrr. I mean, Grrreat that they’re so engrossed in what they’re doing.
• Hello! Finally, would it kill you to say a simple, “Hey,” “Hi,” “How are ya?” A little wave, a quick smile, a peace sign. A simple sign of basic humanity goes a long way on the trail.

As it does everywhere in life.

Photo: “Might I pass when it’s convenient?” Even in a race, civility is appreciated on the trail.