Walking – a natural way to start or end the day…

Walking is a natural and easily mastered motion for people. Walking is a perfect way to get started with an exercise program. For the want-to-be and current walkers in our community, there are a variety of locations for you to enjoy your activity. The VMS track has people walking around almost every hour of the day. Be aware of track etiquette, see below. Colonial Mall and SGMC have teamed up to offer the Mall Walkers – allowing access to a temperature controlled atmosphere, call Colonial Mall to find out more. The Azalea City Trail is available for walkers and more. For those that want to walk out of their house, neighborhoods are wonderful terrain to walk, however remember some basic safety rules; walk facing traffic, use sidewalks, be alert and aware of your surroundings and wear identification. Once you have the desire, all the other needs will fall into place. Remember to train smarter, not harder. Huffing and puffing breathing is not the preferred approach when you are trying to start and improve your fitness levels, rather being able to keep a conversation going while walking is better. From a walking program one improves their cardiovascular and respiratory systems and muscle tone too. These three improvements add up to a higher quality of life. 

Using the three C’s shared last week; commitment, consistency and convenience, you will be on the road to better health and higher quality of life in no time. 

People are remembering their track etiquette, rules for the track when used for running or walking. Slower traffic stays on the right hand side, or outside lanes. If you are walking or running faster then anyone else on the track, lane one and two should be kept open for you. Once some others come on the track who are faster than you, let those people be in lane one and or two, and you move out to lane three or more. The very least you should do is move to the outside if a faster person is coming from behind – especially if they say “track” as they approach. Be kind to others as all the people use the track – slower traffic goes to the right, or outside lanes. Keep up the great work and effort!

Attention all runners and walkers, an event is approaching. On the early morning of July 4th 2007 – Valdosta will host the 2nd annual BAYTREE 8K road race. All runners, joggers and walkers are cordially invited to help celebrate Independence Day with an active flare. Make plans to be a part of Valdosta’s new tradition – applications will be out soon for you to participate. Check out the VDT soon for applications in the paper, on their web site and at Get Active Running and more. Put the event and date on your family calendar now – you will be glad you joined in the fun. 

OUTSTANDING PREFORMANCES

Youth Swimmers took to the pool in Tifton last weekend and Valdosta’s Stone Creek Coral Reef performed very well placing Fourth at Tifton Invitational in team competition. Stone Creek had 8 swimmers earn high point awards in their age group. Avery Kolisz was 4th in 7-8 girls. Tommy Powell was 4th in 7-8 boys. Nadine Fares was 3rd in 9-10 girls. In 13-14 boys, Cole McCarty tied for first place, Sullivan Pollard was 3rd, and Kaleb Prichard was 5th. In 15-18 girls, Courtney Prichard was 5th, and Shannon Eby was 4th. The team set 18 new team records in the first meet of the year, and many swimmers swam personal best times. Top five finishers for the Coral Reef were: Avery Kolisz, Tommy Powell, Nadine Fares, Ashley Powell, Drew Bradshaw, Chaker Fares, Cole McCarty, Sullivan Pollard, Kaleb Prichard, Shannon Eby and Courtney Prichard. The Stone Creek Coral Reefs competed in Lake City yesterday, depending on local conditions due to the wildfires

May 10th through the 12th, Jefferson, GA was the host of the GA State High School Track Meet and region 1 was well represented in all classifications. The highlight in the team competition was Brooks County bringing home 3rd place in the AA classification. In AAA, Monroe placed 6th, and in AAAA, Bainbridge placed 8th in the team competition. In the A classification, Lanier County’s Antonio Owens, Jeremy Ryan and the 400m Relay team earned top 8 finishes. In AA classification, Brooks County was lead by Donnell Golden, Cellos Fulton, Corey West and Willie Maxwell. Cook County performers. Cook County top finishers include; Thomas Newsome, Thad Williams, the 400m relay team and the 1600m relay team. Early County earned the podium with 400m relay team, Elbert Lee and Josh Skipper. Mitchell County earned points with Kendall Wourm. Fitzgerald placed in the top 8 with Corey Slacks, Austin McDonald and 1600m relay. Thomasville earned points with Mason Fennelly, Brandon Thompson and Quintez Hayes. In AAA, top eight finishers included: Cairo [Maurice Brown, Johnathan Bryant, 400m Relay Team and Bradlyn Anderson], Crisp County [Alfonso Thomas], Dougherty [Jamie Jones and Brian Bryant], Westover [Kenji Breedlove and Jacob Metz] and Monroe [Montavious Williams, David Noel and Darohn Washington]. AAAA top 8 finishers include: Americus-Sumter [Antwon Cutts], Bainbridge [Anthony Riley, Nicholas Williams, 400m relay team, 1600m relay team, Tamorros Baulkmon, and Sean Bouie], Lee County [Michael Daniels and John Smith] and Thomas County Central [Chester Hightower, 400m relay team, and Hunter Poole]. AAAAA top 8 finishers include: Coffee County [Demario Bennett], Colquitt County [400m Relay team and Orion Ponder], Houston County [Kyle Griffin], Lowndes [1600m relay team], Tift County [Zach Allen], Valdosta [Alfie Johnson] and Warner Robins [Laron Scott and Atin Jones]. Congratulations to all who qualified for State and competed to your best level. We are anxious to see even more results from South Georgia at next years State Meet.

On May 12th – people from the Valdosta area went East and North to participate in running events. 

The Masked Avenger raced the Glennville Sweet Onion Run 5K and placed first overall with a time of 18:20. Charlie Mizell, Chris Gaither, Jody Durham and the Smoot family traveled to Fitzgerald to compete in the Colony City Chase 5K and all came home with awards. Alice and Todd Smoot placed first overall in the male and female division with a 20:30 and 17:30 respectively. Chris Gaither won his age group and placed 2nd overall. Jody Durham was the 3rd female overall and won her age group. Charlie Mizell placed in his age group as well as did Craig Smoot placing 2nd in the 14 and under age group. This is the first time the event has had a husband and wife win the overall titles. 

There are weekly, free activities for the runners and cyclists in the area. Runners can show up at Get Active on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7AM for runs from 1.5 to 8 plus mile runs. Check out the Two-Minute Drill for more information on running and cycling. Cyclists can meet for rides on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. For more information, check out the web page at www.azaleacitycyclists.com. 

Do you have results you want to share about yourself, a loved one or friend? Send, email or call the information in to me at Get Active – Running and more. 

If you have questions about your walking, running or other training, drop me an email and I will do my level best to answer your questions. Email getactive.val@earthlink.net or join the GetActiveSouthGeorgia yahoo group. Listen to the Get Active South Georgia radio show on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 7PM to receive additional information or to ask questions.

Thank you,

Todd & Alice Smoot

GET ACTIVE 
Running and more

GET ACTIVE SOUTH GEORGIA as heard on NewsTalk 105.9 FM WVGA Wednesdays
6 to 7 PM - call into the show at 229-241-1059
GET ACTIVE SOUTH GEORGIA  as read weekly in the Sunday VDT - look for us
www.getactivevaldosta.com
3200-C North Ashley Street
Valdosta, GA 31602
229-219-0010
229-219-0012 (F)

In the long run, one must have goals to succeed.

"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift" Steve Prefontaine