Here are some tips from Runner’s World on the experience most of us who live in Oklahoma don’t have to mess with but for a few times a year:

- Wear trail shoes.

- Run in fresh snow instead of the packed-down stuff if you can.

- Take teeny tiny steps.

- Run slowly. (Check! I’m super good at this.)

- Don’t run in snow every day. It uses those weird muscles that hibernate until you do some kind of strange exercise. Those are the ones that hurt the most. So run inside and outside – not outside all the time.

- Walk over ice. Seriously. Running on ice is just dumb.

The OKC Boathouse Foundation and runhers women’s association is partnering to celebrate National Run@Work Day, which encourages companies to take part in leading healthier and more active lifestyles in the OKC Metro. Companies of all sizes, non-profit organizations, running clubs, running events, running specialty stores, and individuals are all encouraged to come out to the Devon Boathouse on Friday, September 21, at 12:00pm – for a 30/45 minute run or walk out on the Beautiful Oklahoma River Trails. Refreshments will be available post run/walk.

Oklahoma City is now known nationally as a city on the rise. We need to continue on this path with healthier, more active workplaces and lifestyles. Research shows a fitter and healthier company/organization performs better at most everything they do. RUN@WORK Day is another important step in raising awareness about the importance of daily physical activity in workplaces all over the OKC Metro. “Rising healthcare costs has every business/organization’s attention,” says Sheila Kidder of runhers, “we have to activate and engage more people in active/healthier lifestyle at work and at home. This is critically important to individual quality of life, while reducing the consumption of health care dollars.”

“At the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation, we believe that an active lifestyle is a key component to enhancing your quality of life,” said OKC Boathouse Foundation Executive Director Mike Knopp. “We invite everyone to come to the Oklahoma River to explore the trails and experience the fun that comes with having an active outdoor lifestyle. Run@Work Day is a great way to get started.”

About the OKC Boathouse Foundation
The OKC Boathouse Foundation promotes the use and development of the Oklahoma River as a world-class urban aquatic venue and provides access to rowing, kayaking and fitness programs for people of all ages and abilities. OKCBF programs pursue the highest goals of sports and embrace the principles of the Olympic spirit which inspire athletes to work toward personal excellence, embrace the power of teamwork, and practice respect for all people and the environment. To learn more or get involved, call (405) 552-4040 or visit okcbf.org, facebook.com/OklahomaCityRiversport or twitter.com/riversportokc.

I take my husband’s dog running every now and then, but I’ve never taken her out on a trail run. I’m mostly nervous that we’ll injure one another because of the leash, but I’m scared she might fling herself in front of a bike or another runner if she’s not on the leash in the first place. It’s a complicated situation.

Nevertheless, here are some great tips from healthy pet expert Brad Kriser. These are verbatim suggestions he has for different dangerous scenarios:

• Ingests harmful water – Lake, pond or stream water can be toxic to your dog if ingested. In some cases, it creates Giardia—an infection in the small intestines. If your dog drinks contaminated water, give him treated, fresh water to try to flush his system. If symptoms occur, such as diarrhea, abdominal pain or fatigue, visit a vet for additional treatment.
• Injures a paw – If you discover a cut on your dog’s paws, soak the paw in sea-salt water, remove any debris and use a disinfectant to clean the wound. Bandage the wound with three layers of rolled gauze in a taught manner. Use an anti-inflammatory spray, such as Dr. Rose’s Remedies Skin Treatment Spray, to help the irritation.
• Is stung by a bee – The first thing you should do is look for the pest/stinger to remove it. Be sure not to break it or more poison might go into your dog’s blood stream. Clean the area with a baking soda and water paste. If the irritation continues, consult your vet about giving your dog an over-the-counter antihistamine, like Benadryl, to counteract reactions.
• Walks through a poisonous plant – If your dog comes in contact with poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac, do not touch his coat until you are wearing protective gloves. Even though a dog’s coat adds a great layer of protection, vulnerable spots with less hair, like the ears and stomach, can react to poisonous plants. To help prevent infection, bathe your dog in warm water, using a mild shampoo and rinse thoroughly to remove the plant’s oil. If your dog continues to itch, consult a vet about an antihistamine.
• Gets bit by a venomous snake – The best way to react is to stay calm and immediately find a veterinarian. Restrict movement in your pet as much as possible, even if it means carrying your dog. Do not try to treat the bite yourself by applying ice, removing the venom or applying a tourniquet. If you are nowhere near a vet, a snakebite kit can also be used. Other preventative options include snake aversion training or vaccinating your dog against snakebites.

The Oklahoma City Metro area has encountered a recent outbreak of attacks on women runners. Reports of stalking have increased alarmingly as well. runhers is partnering with Jennifer Gray; a women’s safety and self-defense expert to hold at free one hour forum at Redline Jiu Jtsu in Edmond on Saturday Morning. The forum is limited to the first 100 women. Women can join the event though the runhers Facebook site.

runhers Director of Special Projects Sheila Kidder states, “This is a very serious issue. We get calls from the local media and reports all the time of women out training, getting harassed, verbally abused and even stalked, not only while running, but out on daily activities as well. Our forum allows women to be aware of what to look for, along with tips for how to get away in case the unspeakable does occur. We help them develop their own personal protection plan – based on how much risk they think they are exposed to.”

Jennifer Gray with Redline says, “We want women empowered. We want them to be able to quickly assess if there may be a threat – and what to do all the way through the encounter; even with a physical encounter, God forbid that should happen. Knowledge is everything and this will be a great forum to answer the many safety questions women have.”

runhers has posted a more detailed article on women’s safety at http://runhers.com/2012/07/personal-safety-%e2%80%93-are-you-prepared/

About runhers® women’s association
runhers is a dynamic and creative women’s lifestyle organization. runhers is built on the belief that women must move to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. We produce lifestyle programs, trainings, creative forums, entertainment & amazing events. If you can imagine a better you, we can help you create it. To engage more, please visit us at www.runhers.com or facebook.com/runhers – twitter @runhers – email info@runhers.com

Backwoods, Inc., today announced world renown ultra-marathoner Jason Robillard’s visit to Oklahoma City and an in-store clinic with the athlete Friday, April 27, 2012 from 7p.m. to 9p.m. For this event, Backwoods has partnered with Merrell to bring awareness to the ever growing sport of barefoot and minimalist running. The event will be hands-on, customers will have the opportunity to try Merrell’s line of barefoot shoes and participants will have a chance to go on a short run with Robillard and staff. Backwoods’ Oklahoma City store is located at 12315 N. May Avenue, Suite 103, Oklahoma City, OK 73120.

“We have seen the level of interest in barefoot and minimalist running grow over the past few years and wanted to offer our customers the chance to meet the expert, as well as hear how to make a safe transition to barefoot running,” Jennifer Mull, Backwoods’ chief executive officer, said. “We understand how important the outdoors are to this community and we want to make sure we are providing our customers with the information and products they need to enjoy all that this city, and the surrounding areas, have to offer.”

Barefoot running consists of running with nothing on the runner’s feet while minimalist running means running in shoes that provide limited or no support, only minimal protection.

The clinic at Backwoods will be lead by Jason Robillard, who has over 20 years experience as a barefoot runner and logs nearly 100 miles per week training. Robillard is also founder and director of Barefoot Running University. As a barefoot runner, he has competed 5k, 10k, 15k, half-marathon, 25k, marathon, 50 mile and 100 mile distances barefoot. He is also the author of “The Barefoot Running Book: The Art and Science of Barefoot & Minimalist Shoe Running,” a book that outlines how anyone can transition to this style of running.

“We are very excited to have Robillard join us at Backwoods to share his experiences as a barefoot and minimalist runner. There is no one in the industry who can give a stronger narrative on the sport,” Tom Adams, general manager, said. “As this sport continues to grow, his expertise will be welcomed by runners here in Oklahoma City and across the state.”

My training schedule called for five miles. At my pace, that’s about a 12-hour run. Or maybe it just feels like it. Mia and I headed down to the trails at the Oklahoma River for our big outing. I stashed a book, a music toy and a stuffed cow in the storage mesh under her seat just in case she needed a distraction.

Lucky me: she didn’t need any kind of distraction. She watched everything with wide eyes. She pointed at the river and the egrets wading in the shallow water. She saw birds flit from tree to tree. She watched grasshoppers bounce across the trail and into the grass.

Until mile four. Then, she was done.

Mia isn’t a whiner or a crier, but I could tell she was ready to go when she tossed her sunglasses over the side of her stroller.

I cut my run a mile short, but it was so fun taking her out. I’m sure I’ll drag her along in the future. On my short runs.

She’s the one who talked me into running in the first place, and I’m so, so, so glad she did. As I’m getting back into the swing of running, I’ve been looking to Megan again for help and inspiration. We were going to run with the Landrunners this Saturday but decided to do a shorter, easier run to really kick-start our training. We’ll do something easy, Megan says. We’ll do something short, Megan says. We’ll go run on this “nice little dirt path” she knows about, Megan says.

Well, the nice little dirt path we took off on was the Bluff Creek Trial. It’s a 3 1/2-mile bike trail in northwest Oklahoma City that’s maintained by the Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship.

This was my first outing in the Oklahoma heat, and my longest run since starting back up. Let me just say, I was wholly unprepared for the heat, and I was 100 percent unprepared for the trail. Somewhere around mile 2 I thought, “I’m going to die out here. I’m going to literally sweat to death, and some cyclist is going to have to pick me up and move me out of the way so people can ride past my body.”

Well, luckily that did not happen. But it was seriously a close call. Afterwards, Megan said that it was a little more of a technical run than she remembered. So maybe she isn’t a liar – just a mis-remember-er.

This is how the Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship describes it:

Tight and Twisty = Not so easy

Mickey Mouse roller-coaster type trail. Very tight singletrack with lots of turns, trees, drop-ins adn climbs.

Mickey Mouse roller-coaster? I nearly died. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much fun I had. It had lots of challenges and problems to solve that you don’t find on a treadmill, that’s for sure. It was fantastic. I’m going to sneak back out there some morning again. Hopefully the heat will break so I can have another shot at taking on Bluff Creek.