Slap on that fitness tracker you got for Christmas and get moving. Or, even if Santa didn’t bring you a fitness tracker, get moving.
One way or another, just get active.
That’s the premise behind the 100-Mile Club created by local nonprofit organization Wild Trails. The club is kicking off today with the hopes of getting Chattanooga off to a healthy start in 2016.
The idea is simple: participants who walk or run 100 miles – or do the equivalent in other activities – during the first three months of the year earn a club membership card entitling them to discounts at businesses around the area.
It’s a material incentive for what Wild Trails Director Randy Whorton hopes will lead to lifestyle changes.
“People will go out and hike or paddleboard or whatever once a month or once a week even,” Whorton said. “But the problem is, just because you do something every once in a while, it doesn’t make you fit.”
Making it 100 miles in three months will require a more regimented approach, and the Wild Trails program will include a social accountability component that Whorton hopes will keep participants engaged.
Participants will enter their progress each week on the Wild Trails website in their respective fitness category.
Swimmers can participate by multiplying their distances by four, and bicyclists can participate by dividing their distances by four. Whorton, who plans to unicycle 100 miles during the first three months of the year, said just about any means of self-propelled travel can be included. He is still trying to figure out what amount of time spent rock-climbing would equate to 100 miles.
“You can use a wheelchair,” he said. “We’ll even have a category for people who are pushing strollers. What doesn’t count is something that’s not cardiovascular like weightlifting or hang-gliding.”
The program, which counts Erlanger, Volkswagen and Chattem among its corporate participants, is open to anyone and will reset every quarter. There is no joining fee, but Whorton hopes to raise enough in donations to cover the cost of the program.
When the debut session concludes at the end of March, participants will be invited to the Lula Lake Land Trust for a campout and a trail walk or run.
“We’re really excited about it,” Lula Lake Land Trust Executive Director Mike Pollock said.
Pollock said the additional exposure to Lula Lake, which is in Lookout Mountain, Ga., will be good. He’s planning to participate, as well.
“I am going to multi-sport it,” Pollock said. “That’s what I do. I’ll spend a lot of time on my bike, my feet and maybe climb some of it.
“At the end of the day, it’s on the honor system,” he said. “But I think it will be fun and it will get people more involved than they have been in the past.”
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.