Want to Run a Marathon?

Have you ever wanted to run a marathon, but it just seemed too overwhelming?

Here's a cool chance to get a free entry to the Marine Corp Marathon and some helping training for it.

FitArlington is looking for Arlingtonians who want to run (or walk) the Marine Corps Marathon or 10K this coming October 26. Not only will FitArlington get you the race numbers, they will also arrange a training program to help you succeed. Based on your personal goals (whether you’ve never run a race before, are looking for a personal best, want to overcome a disability, or just want to tackle a challenge), FitArlington will hook you up (for free) with an Arlington training group to help you achieve your goals and give you a free number for either race.
All ages, abilities and interests are welcome to apply!

In return for FitArlington helping you achieve your goals, FitArlington asks to share your progress with the community…reality training! Share share your dreams and success with the community so we can have fit-role models….at every age and ability of the spectrum.

FitArlington will select 10 Arlingtonians to help train and run the marathon and 10K. Apply by June 1. You just need to give your name, contact information, goals and in 200 words (or less) why you want us to pick for this program.

Sound pretty cool?

Apply here!

Tuesday: CRM Monthly Meetup Featuring FitArlington

How do we create a culture of fitness in Arlington? That’s the question we’ll tackle at the CRM December Monthly Meetup. Join us at Bailey’s in the Ballston Common Mall from 7-9pm for this relaxed night as we discuss the new FitArlington initiative. Arlington County Board Member Walter Tejada may stop by to give a personal pitch for FitArlington.

We'll also have our normal volunteer updates and plenty of time to meet and socialize with new and old friends alike. You can RSVP through the CRM website or the Facebook event page! We already have over 40 people RSVPed "yes" or "maybe" through Facebook, so it should be a good crowd. Hope to see you there!

Review: CRM November Monthly Meetup at Dr. Dremo's

Not sure if it was the lure of the Election Night theme or nostalgia for the soon-to-be-moving Dr. Dremo's, but November's Community Role Models Monthly Meetup was the best-attended yet by far! Nearly 30 people packed Dremo's front lounge.

The crowd was about evenly split between people who'd been to CRM events before and people who hadn't. That's probably the ideal mix. On the one hand, you don't want the new people to feel like the only ones in the room who don't know anyone. But then again, you don't want a room full of people who can't find anyone who actually knows what CRM is.

We try to keep the formal blabbing short at Monthly Meetups, so we just talked about some upcoming volunteer activities like Holiday Elves at Ballston Mall on December 1st and Project Christmas Angel on Lorcom Lane coming up on December 11th. The biggest question we got was how to get one of the cool new CRM tshirts (answer: come to a volunteer event).

Our previous record high for attendance was 20 people at October's Monthly Meetup at Sine in Pentagon City. This event shattered the record with 28 people. But I'm pretty confident the Dremo's event won't hold the title belt for long. Fellow blogger What's Up Eric has lined up an awesome December Monthly Meetup featuring Fit Arlington at Bailey's in Ballston. You can learn more RSVP at the CRM website or at the Facebook event page (or if you just can't respondez vous enough, you can do both).

I'm sure Eric will have more details of the event as it gets closer, so bookmark this page and check back later. Speaking of Eric, that's him in the gray shirt. What did you think of the November Monthly Meetup?

Arlington the Slim? Fairfax the slimmer?

According to a new study by Money Magazine, Arlington is the 22nd skinniest County in the U.S. Sounds pretty good, right? - but then there is this piece of news from the Sun Gazette:

But 22nd pales in comparison to neighboring Fairfax County (ranked 15th) and Alexandria (ranked 10th). And, according to federal guidelines, all three communities' residents fall, on average, into the overweight category.

We're loosing to Fairfax and Alexandria?! What's up with that? I don't like losing! And I especially don't like losing to Fairfax and Alexandria. I think it's time to jump on this FitArlington band wagon.

So, what are you going to do about it? I want to win next year! Discuss below

Review: Fit Arlington Kick-Off -- I Had a Blast!

What a beautiful day to be outside Saturday! Wow. The weather was supposed to be fairly nice - mid to upper 50s, but it turned out to be absolutely wonderful.

I had a blast at the recent Fit Arlington kick-off celebration. I ran the tennis station and we had a steady stream of kids and we played a lot of games and just generally had a lot of fun on a beautiful day.

The event was much more kid and family focused, so I'm not sure I would really recommend it unless you have kids. There were some free exercise classes, but they were indoors, and tended to be mostly parents.

That being said, if not this particularly event, I do highly recommend the concept behind Fit Arlington - promoting fitness. I'll spare you some boring scientific explanation of why being fit is good - what I will say is it's fun and you feel better.

So, look for more Fit Arlington activities. But more than that, look for any chance to be active.

Upcoming: Fit Arlington Kick-Off and Fit Fest

What: Fit Arlington Kick-Off and Fit Fest

When: Saturday, March 10, Noon to 3 PM

Where: Gunston Park , 1401 28th St South

Spring is coming and it's time to get excited about fitness! This year is the beginning of the "Fit Arlington" initiative. What does that mean? Well, like many County initiatives it's a little unclear. Basically, it means we're going to stir up a lot of excitement around fitness and encourage people to be a healthy active community ... "Promoting a Culture of Fitness" is the tag line which kind of sums it up.

This Saturday is the kick-off event. We'll have multi-sport game stations, tennis fun and games, inflatables, Talon, drumming, exercise classes, inflatables, and lots of fun games. Noon to 3 PM at Gunston Park, 1401 28th St South, off the Glebe Rd Exit. (Note: Google Maps shows the park as "James W Haley Park" - not sure what that is about.)

I think it will be a fun event. I would say it's probably a little more family and kid friendly than "singles seeking singles", but if the weather is OK, and it looks like it will be, I think it will still be fun to get out and get moving. Despite what today looks like, spring is coming!

Disclaimer: I am involved in planning this so writing this is kind of like an ABC news story about Mickey Mouse, but I think it will be fun, and hey, you can come hang out with me. I'll be on the tennis courts.