Wanna Be a Turtle?

No, not a real turtle, and not a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle either, although that would be super-cool.  I take that back, if you CAN be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, do that.

What I'm actually talking about is my running group, The Towpath Turtles.  The season is opening!  Yay!

The Towpath Turtles is a structured training program through OneLife Fitness Coaching.  The season runs from late February to October, and the training is based around Akron.  The culmination of the program is the Akron Marathon where most members will be running the half marathon or a relay for the full marathon.  The coach of the Towpath Turtles is Sheila Avsec, who provided this description of a Towpath Turtle:

I believe that to be a runner, one does more than run, namely a Towpath Turtle is defined as:
• A runner who runs on a regular basis, regardless of distance or speed;
• A runner who participates in the running community: as a volunteer, a member of local running club, and as a spectator/support crew member for other racers;
• A runner who knows about his/her sport – about proper fueling and nutrition, injury prevention and recovery, race etiquette, and the running community in general;
• A runner who is supportive of his/her peers and other runners.


The long runs are on Sunday each week, and this was the main reason I joined the Turtles in 2012.  Sunday is really the only day I can leave the kids for a few hours since my husband works every other day.  When I joined the Turtles, I thought I was just joining a group of people who wanted to run on Sundays.  At the time I couldn't run at all, and I secretly suspected that I would never be a runner.  
I was wrong.

Wanna know how the Turtles changed me?  Wanna see some cool pictures of Turtles?  Click here for the rest of the post.

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout !