The “Run the Rails” program is held in honor of the 150th Anniversary of the railroad’s arrival in Laramie and is aimed to promote fitness and an active lifestyle .
Laramie Community Recreation Center (Laramie Rec Center) invites people of all ages to join their “Run the Rails: Transcontinental Race 2018” to possibly win an annual membership.
From Feb.15 through Oct.31, 2018, those who live in Laramie and are registered at the Laramie Rec Center can take part in “Run the Rails” by tracking activity miles.
“We are looking for a way to bring people to the [Laramie] Rec Center and make sure that they have a goal, when they get here, keep coming day after day and also have some fun,” Laramie Rec Center Customer Service Coordinator, Laura Tangeman, said. “Some sort of challenge – let’s see whether they can get across the country.”
Laramie Rec Center is a health-center, unifying different sport facilities and giving the Laramie residents an opportunity to stay healthy by providing a space for sports. It has three pools, full-size basketball court and gym.
“Something that is important for people to keep them engaged and continue using the membership is, making them visit the facility on the regular basis and make a habit,” Recreation Manager, Jodi Guerin, said. “So, we tried to think of something that we could do that would encourage people to come regularly and use the facilities.”
The main idea of staff members at the Laramie Rec Center is the cross-country portion.
“Next summer is 150th anniversary of the founding of Laramie, when the railroad first came here,” Guerin said. “And we thought that it would be a pretty good opportunity to take advantage of the significant event in the history and encourage people. So, what we did is map out a rail route that goes across country. Kind of roughly following the progression of the railway from New York city across the country to San-Francisco.”
The Laramie Rec Center put approximately seven destinations on the map, where the railroad historically went through and showed the distances between them.
“We built our idea on that and we did something to encourage people of Laramie to earn wellness miles,” Guerin said. “When they workout, they track how many miles they would have earned out of the amount of time they’ve spent working out. We created the conversion chart, so that the miles are a little bit more generous.”
For example, according to conversion chart, 30 minutes of easy aerobic exercises, 22 minutes of moderate level yoga or 6 minutes of hard spin class, will be converted into three miles.
“Also, you are getting miles for coming here, to Rec Center (10 miles for every visit),” Guerin said. “So, if you come once a week, but you work out a lot, you might still be able to achieve it, but if you come lots of times a week, but you work out a little bit, you still can get 3,000 miles.”
At every ‘stop of the railroad’ a participant can receive a prize. Going 370 miles to reach Pittsburg from New York guarantees a water bottle. Those who would earn 3,080 miles and reach San Francisco have a chance to win an annual membership.
“One of the goals of the program is making people come regularly and making a habit. The program goes ‘till the end of October,” Tangeman said. “We think by that time it will create a habit of visiting the center. I hope, people would start doing sports on the regular basis and make it their lifestyle.”
Honoring railroad, ‘Run the Rails’ promotes fitness
