beyond the biggest loser
Freedom for ATX100: The get-fit group conquers "The Freedom Run" at Camp Mabry
Nov 22, 2011 | 12:00 pm
Let the race beginPhoto by Kathleen Jennings
Mayor Lee Leffingwell gives ATX100 members support before the race.Photo by Kathleen Jennings
"We Did It" ATX100 completes their first 5K together.Photo by Kathleen Jennings
Joe Bacon finishes "The Freedom Run" along side his wife Michelle.Photo by Kathleen Jennings
For most of those competing, it had been a long time since their running shoes had crossed the starting line of any race. But on this morning, they were laced up and ready.
On November 19 at Camp Mabry, ATX100 conquered "The Freedom Run," a 5K walk/run that took participants on a tour of the military base. They kicked off appropriately, standing at attention to "The Star Spangled Banner" before the starting gun sounded.
ATX100 is a group of Austinites devoted to personal fitness; each member is working on losing around 100 pounds. RunTex is the push behind the group, along with Texas-based healthy eatery My Fit Foods. Together they have teamed up to teach participants about exercise, eating right and how to make them both work together for weight loss success.
About 15 members from the ATX100 group came out to race at Camp Mabry, mixing in with the rest of the racing crowd. They ran past planes and helicopters and then into the heart of the base, past military tanks. It was a winding course (with a heck of a hill during mile three).
"The Freedom Run" was the first of five 5K races the group will run before they hit their ultimate destination: the Capital 10K run in March. To keep steady during the winter months, the group is planning another 5K run during the holidays.
For one ATX100 runner, this event brought back that racer in her that had been as she put it, "in hibernation."
Group member Joe Bacon came out for the race. For him it was quite a moment; five years ago, Bacon walked the "Turkey Trot" in Austin, and since then he hadn't entered another event. Now, he is also almost halfway to his goal—just a few pounds shy of losing 50 pounds. He completed the race with his wife by his side. The amount of support throughout the group is contagious; as each racer crossed the line you could hear cheers from fellow ATX100 members.
ATX100 is two months into their journey and the average weight loss for each member is over 30 pounds each—those are big results!
If you're interested in the program but have smaller goals, RunTex has also put together an ATX50 (for folks wanting to lose 50 pounds each—registration is still open) and, in January, an ATX20 and ATXKids will kick off.
