KATHERINE BENENATI ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Well-matched exercise partners keep one another on track

LITTLE ROCK — The wind was blistering, the pace was not.

The half-dozen women jogging along North Little Rock’s River Trail on a recent Saturday morning have slowed, if not exactly mellowed, over the years.

They vacation together, celebrate one another’s birthdays, have watched one another’s children grow.

And on most Saturdays for nearly two decades they’ve run together.

On a recent six-mile run, as on others, conversation, not competition, was paramount - the news of the day, recent outings, the time the group almost got kicked out of a fine Little Rock eating establishment.

“We’re as important to each other as our families,” said Bettina Brownstein, a Little Rock lawyer and a founding member of the group, which calls itself the Endorfemmes.

On this particular run, the women, thanks to the seamstress among them, wore purple jerseys with “Endorfemmes” stitched in hot pink. They still bemoan some of the flashier costumes - the mere mention of leopard print elicits an eye roll from Brownstein - of years past.

“Over the years we’ve had goals to be faster, run longer, go harder,” Brownstein said. “Now our goal is to be out there.”

The Endorfemmes are onto something, fitness experts say. It’s easier to be out there if someone else is out there, too.

Those struggling to stay motivated or start an exercise plan may better adhere to a program or meet their goals if they don’t go it alone.

“One of the big things is getting on a schedule,” said Will Peveler, an assistant professor of exercise science and the exercise science coordinator at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. “If the alarm clock goes off at 6 a.m., if you don’t have to meet anybody, you’re more likely to hit snooze a few times.”

Dr. Ro Di Brezzo, professor of exercise science and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville,said that having a partner helps one stay motivated.

“Starting an exercise program is a little like a diet. Nothing to it. People have done it a thousand times,” Di Brezzo said.

There’s a big benefit to having someone to hold you accountable, especially for women, she said.

Generally, men are more comfortable starting an exercise program alone “thinking they already know what to do,” Di Brezzo said.

Women, particularly those in their mid-40s and older, who were raised before team sports were available to girls, may not have the same comfort level, she said. A partner can help them learn proper technique, challenge them to try new equipment.

“Motivation is a part of it,” she said, “but so is the social aspect, the connections we can make.”

PARTNERS

More than five years ago, Kim Eskola and Tammy Helmick made what they say would otherwise be an unlikely connection.

Sure, they’d know each other if they weren’t waking at ungodly hours four times a week to bike, swim or run together. Helmick, 46, is the guidance counselor at Joe T. Robinson Elementary School in Pulaski County where Eskola’s two sons, ages 9 and 7, attend school.

The women met in 2002 when Eskola, now 36, was health director at Little Rock Athletic Club and recruited Helmick for her running group.

The once “seasonal” runner is now a seasoned marathoner.

“Instead of playing cards, we run,” said Helmick, who lives in Roland. “When the phone rings at my house, my husband says: ‘I bet that’s Coach Kim.’ Besides my husband and my family, Kim’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Helmick ran her first marathon in 2003 and has run 14 altogether. Her best time of 3 hours and 29 minutes eclipses Eskola’s best - 3:57.

The two have checked off 14 states - Ohio, Florida, Arizona and Utah to name a few - in their quest to run a marathon in all 50 states. Eskola, who got a head start on Helmick, has run 25 marathons in 15 states. “We’re always looking at what can we do next,” said Eskola, who lives in Bryant and is a clinical instructor in the University of Central Arkansas’ kinesiology and physical education department.

In August, the women plan to compete in an Ironman triathlon in Louisville, Ky., where they and other competitors will swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and then run a marathon.

Last year, the two did a half-Ironman, a feat on its own terms but especially significant considering neither was a strong swimmer before they began training.

Both said working out together not only helps them stay “accountable” but safe, particularly on longer rides or runs.

The two know each other’s paces and plan where to meet after each race. The biggest test of their emergency planning so far was at a recent marathon where both women ran off the course. A sign that marked a splitting point for marathoners and half-marathoners had blown down.

Helmick quickly corrected her mistake and finished, then waited, and waited, for Eskola at the finish line. Helmick checked the medical tents and finally went to grab the women’s bags from the hotel since they were flying out that day. Meanwhile, Eskola had run three miles out of her way before turning around. (Eskola didn’t want to name the event because her complaints were handled well.)

“She’s one up on me,” Helmick said. “I’ve never run 32 miles.”

She and Helmick offer similar advice for would-be fitnesspartners. No. 1 on their list, not surprisingly, is to set goals. The women are already hoping to run a marathon a month to celebrate their birthdays the year Eskola turns 40 and Helmick turns 50.

“If you don’t have a goal,” whether it’s losing weight or decreasing your blood pressure, “you’re not as motivated,” Eskola said.

GETTING ALONG

Eskola said there are far more positives to working out with a partner than there are negatives.

But others say that there are things to keep in mind when choosing a partner. While it may sound obvious, Peveler cautions: “If you can’t get along with someone, don’t work out with them.”

He also said that two Type B personalities may not mesh well.

Two people who aren’t motivated might enable each other’s behavior and wind up grabbing coffee and donuts instead of hitting the racquetball court. On the flip side, two hard-driving Type A’s could wind up overtraining.

Joe Pool, 56, president of the White River Roadrunners in Batesville, said that runners need to mind their partners’ paces.

A group that’s too fast may scare off a potential runner, while a group that’s too slow could be an exercise in frustration, said Pool, project control manager for FutureFuel Chemical Co. in Batesville.

He said he runs with others about 25 percent of the time he trains. While he enjoys running by himself as well as in a group, he said, “part of it is just getting out there and feeling the pavement.” He’s run 21 marathons since he started running 12 years ago, after his wife teased him for huffing and puffing while climbing stairs.

His group offers running workshops to teach properform, what to look for in a running shoe, stretching and more. All are valuable tools to prevent injury and the sort of feedback a lone runner might not get.

FAST FRIENDS

The Endorfemmes started with a lone runner.

In the early 1990s, Donna Cave, now 60, used to run six miles a day, six days a week. She met Brownstein running in the Heights section of Little Rock, she said over coffee in the River Market with some of her fellow group members after their River Trail workout (six of the eight women ran, two walked).

Brownstein remembers watching Cave charge up steps at Allsop Park all those years ago and knowing she’d have to follow suit.

The first time the two ran together, Cave said, Brownstein just kept talking and the two lost track of time.

Others joined them over time. Most of the women are now in their 50s, but there’s a 37-yearold and a 65-year-old. The women often meet throughout the week in smaller groups to bike or walk, and they eat togetherquite a bit.

“While we’re running we’re deciding where we’re going to eat and drink,” said Karen Call, 54.

Call, the group’s costume designer, is also its fastest runner. Last month, she ran a marathon in New York in 4:02, a time she wasn’t thrilled with - she prefers to be on the other side of the four-hour mark.

Call came up with the group name - yes, it’s a play on endorphins - in the mid-1990s. (Endorphins are morphinelike chemicals that appear naturally in the brain during exercise.)

The group has 13 members from different walks of life: lawyers, a hospital administrator, a cardiologist, a potter.

“We’ve gone through boyfriends, divorces, drama with children, elderly parents,” Call said.

Brownstein said that she’s stayed in Little Rock largely because she’d never be able to recreate the same circle of friends elsewhere. She’d exercise without them. But as religiously? Not a chance.

“I wish everybody had a group like this.”

ActiveStyle, Pages 25, 30 on 05/19/2008

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