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Get Healthy De Soto

…having a long-lasting positive impact on the health and safety of the De Soto community by encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, through programs promoting physical activity, healthy nutrition, community involvement, and disease and injury prevention.

Winter Flakes Recap

Saturday’s Winter Flakes Race was a huge success. Over 180 runners signed up to pound the streets of DeSoto with 36 completing the 10K distance! Although there were some hiccups (like a house fire a block from the 10K route), no runners were lost, there were no injuries in the house fire, and everyone had a great time running the race.

Thank you to all the runners and walkers who took part in the race. We had great weather and a great crew of people who came out. Results are available here, but just to give you some idea:

  • Austin Crowe was the man on fire Saturday morning. He completed the 10K in 32:29!
  • Of the 36 runners who completed the 10K, 18 of them were women between the ages of 30 and 48!
  • Terry Wilhelm completed the 10K too. He did it in 1:02:36. That might not seem impressive, but he’s in the 70+ age class!
  • The fastest 5K lady finished in 21:46. Jennifer Cox was super fast on Saturday morning, and she falls into the 30-39 age class!

This sort of race takes a lot of coordination, and this year’s Race Coordinator did a great job. Lynnsie Kerperien oversaw the details of the race as our new Coordinator and kept all the race pieces running smoothly. If you know her, give her a pat on the back because she did fabulous work.

Special thanks also goes to Angela Edwards, who oversaw recruitment and organization of volunteers. These volunteers are incredibly important to the race because they help us keep the number of lost runners down to a minimum. No one wants to be “that” race, and Angela ensured that we had volunteers at the turns and that drivers were cautious. The train…well, we can’t do anything about the train!

Volunteers this year included: Matt Kerperien, Kim May, Stephanie Miller, Michelle Ide, Amy Burch, Carrie Weatherholt, Aaron Watkins, Victoria Dickinson, Nathan Dickinson, Dave Brown, Chris Miller, Marie Moore, Cyndi Cox, David Walters, Catilynn Hensley, Holly Pesek, Janet Schmidt, Cara Ahern, Nina Abernathy, Tom Mazurek, and Nick Edwards. They were great to stand out in the cold during the race and direct and cheer on runners. Thank you for your time and diligence to encouraging and keeping our runners safe!

And let’s not forget the sponsors that make it all possible!

If you didn’t pick up your race packet or medal, please contact us. We can’t really afford shipping items, but we’d love to be able to get those to you if we can.

Walk Your Way to Thanksgiving

We are just over a month away from Thanksgiving, and that can be a challenging time for people trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. There are so many dessert options, and like all good mammals roaming my yard, I’m looking to store fat for my long winter of hibernation…even though I don’t hibernate…and there’s rarely food scarcity in this country that would require hording.

It is perhaps a bit psychological, but my waistline doesn’t care about the psychology of it. 45 minutes of moderate exercise can counteract some of those urges to overindulge, and a month ahead of Thanksgiving seems a great time to add that to your schedule. (Added bonus: increased physical activity will also reduce your stress as we head into the holidays.)

Leslie Sansone, who has energy in spades, encourages people to walk. A few years ago, she developed a 4-week walking program. It is something to consider if you don’t regularly incorporate physical activity into your daily routine. It can also be a little boost for those who are already moving regularly and just want to change gears or add something extra at the end of the day.

You can download the walking plan here. She included links to purchase her workout music, which I consider totally unnecessary. Just remember to pay close attention while walking outside because that music or anything being piped through earbuds can be a distraction.

The plan is fairly gentle, and you might use it to feed into a Thanksgiving Day race. I’m a fan of the one that the YMCA in Festus does (nice being close to home) and the Turkey Trots (four of them this year) in St. Louis; Run, Gobble, Nap. They are all walkable races that are 5 kilometers or just over 3 miles.

The plan looks very similar to my weekly running routine with one major deviation. I believe in a rest day every week! That would be my caution too. If you get overly sore or fatigued, take a rest day and then get back to it. If you aren’t physically up to walking two miles at a brisk pace, do it slowly and work on increasing your pace incrementally over time. This should be specific though, and you’ll need to measure it.

There are apps you can use, but a watch works well too. If you start at the kiosk near the new swings at Walther Park and walk on the trail south to the loop by the dumpsters and then back up the road through the park, there are 1/4 mile markers. Time yourself to see how long it takes to walk a mile. Then, try to shave 15-20 seconds off the next time you walk. It might not seem like much, but incremental change is more about slow and steady. Just make sure you don’t stop to chit chat too much.

⬇⬇⬇An example of Leslie Sansone’s energy⬇⬇⬇

Woodland Nature Trail Receives Funding

On Wednesday, January 28th, the City of De Soto received news that grant funding from East-West Gateway had been approved the bridge and surfacing for the Woodland Nature Trail. This rustic walk-trail (currently in use) connects the De Soto Senior High School Campus to the Vineland Elementary Campus. It offers the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of nature and provides the benefit of the walking experience. Funding begins in 2015 and the project is to be completed in 2016. Get Healthy DeSoto applauds the vision of the city to enhance this walk trail and to David Dews, City Administrator, for writing and obtaining the grant.

The Woodland Nature Trail has been developed through partnerships with the City of De Soto, De Soto Public Schools and Get Healthy De Soto. Additional partnerships include the De Soto Rotary Club, who donated mulch and a sign, multiple dedicated volunteers, and many in the business community who donated machinery, equipment and supplies. Additional information about the upcoming project is outlined below:

  • Project consists of development of 0.7 mile multi-use trail
  • Project has been discussed for years and is recommended in the City’s Walkable Bikeable Community Plan
  • Project to include 8 ft. wide asphalt surface, entire length of project
  • A 10 ft. wide at-grade bridge crossing over the Tanyard Branch to be constructed
  • Every effort will be made to accommodate all persons by following the guidelines set forth by the Americans with Disability Act
  • Total Cost of the project is estimated to be $406,405.00

If you haven’t enjoyed walking this trail, we will offer guided walks during the DeSoto Home Show on March 28th. Please stop by the GHD booth for more information.

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520 N. Main Rd.
DeSoto, MO 63020