Robyn Torrie and Karen Preston were two of the locals who took part in the Health Foundation's Learn to Run clinic last Tuesday afternoon outside the Yorkton Regional High School.
The two women, along with 25+ others on a good day, get out to the track behind the Regional to run laps in preparation for the annual Charity Road Race which is scheduled for Yorkton at the end of the summer.
Clinics run each Tuesday and Thursdays from 5:45 p.m., at Kinsmen Century Field and the turnouts have been getting larger over the past couple weeks, indicates run clinic leader Bernie Wlock.
The clinics are available to anyone registered for the Road Race in August and both Torrie and Preston say they are slowly but surely getting ready for the race.
"I'm kind of excited," says an enthusiastic Torrie, who's been attending all but one of the clinics so far, says she is a beginner runner, but is getting her stamina up each time out.
"This makes a difference," she told the paper, still smiling.
Preston said "it's rewarding" to be able to train for something and be able to see the results of the time she is putting in. She said she's trying "to better myself" and is "trying to learn.
"I love it," she said.
The clinics only last for about 25 minutes, but both women say they are ready for more.
Preston said it's also teaching her proper breathing techniques, even though she said she will "be nervous" when the race date rolls around in just over a month-and-a-half's time.
She, like Torrie, has only missed one clinic.
The clinics are available free of charge and provide a good 25 minutes of practice time, which Wlock says can focus on anything from proper nutrition, stretching, pacing, as well as intervals.
Wlock said the idea of intervals gives the runners "time to recover".
