Step Up, Florida Events Around Bay County Put Focus on Healthy Living

By Faith Ford, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.

Feb. 11–ancy Nobles and

Howard Steele were

almost toe to toe as

they stepped across an imaginary finish line at the foot of the Old Bailey Bridge on Friday morning.

The pair led a pack of about two dozen walkers participating in Bay County’s first leg of Step Up, Florida — a statewide fitness relay that wound through Holmes, Washington, Jackson, Calhoun, and finally Bay and Gulf counties this week.

“I was following greyhound number one,” Steele said after finishing the 1-mile walk across the bridge and back. “I refused to let a woman run away and leave me.”

Steele is the parks supervisor in Lynn Haven, and Nobles works with the Bay County Health Department. Participation in the morning walk was limited to city and Health Department staff, but organizer Julia Ruschmann said groups from the Bay County Council on Aging, Bay District Schools and other organizations were taking part on their own time this week. Ruschmann is the special events coordinator for the Health Department.

In its third year, Step Up, Florida is a Health Department program to promote fitness and a healthy lifestyle. Participants carry fitness flags through their counties and pass off to the next county, following one of four Step Up, Florida routes.

Bay County is on route two. The track started in Escambia County and ends Feb. 20 in Madison County. The last routes — route one and route four — dead-end Feb. 28 in Duval County to cap off the month-long event.

In past years, Bay County participants carried the flag from one point to another. This year, walkers and runners met at parks in Lynn Haven, Panama City, Callaway and finally in Mexico Beach for planned treks throughout the day.

Dick McLaughlin brought up the tail end of a pack of walkers in Mexico Beach. McLaughlin said he has had two knee replacements — one last year and the other five years ago.

“I try to keep my own pace. I don’t overdo it,” he said.

Six participants — including Mexico Beach Mayor Chuck Risinger — dipped into the Gulf at Sunset Park in Mexico Beach. One aim of Step Up, Florida, Ruschmann said, is to promote different fitness activities and swimming, she noted, is a popular local sport even if it is not all that common in February.

Elizabeth Gapetz and Jenise Pitts, both Health Department employees, stood shivering while a proclamation was read on the beach, then ran and dove into the blue waves alongside the other swimmers Friday afternoon.

Seconds after diving in, all six swimmers turned and ran back to shore where heat packs, thermal blankets and paramedics — just in case — were waiting.

“Oh my goodness, it was freezing,” Gapetz said.

Ruschmann said she wanted the cities involved this year to highlight local park offerings.

“We wanted to really bring some attention to city parks,” Ruschmann said.

Last year, about 4,500 people participated, Ruschmann said. With students figured in, that number could take a leap this year. Bay District Schools wellness and extracurricular activities coordinator Tommy St. Amant estimated 5,000 students might participate through physical education classes and other activities.

To encourage fitness, Ruschmann said the Health Department has awarded a $3,000 grant to the local school system for equipment. She stressed the importance of getting kids moving in light of the nationwide obesity epidemic.

“We’re hoping this will encourage them to do this,” Ruschmann said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.

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