The focus of Allen County’s meltdown this year is to develop healthier lifestyles through exercise and attention to nutrition.
Five other southeast Kansas counties will be joining in the effort to get healthy. This will be the third year for Allen County.
Sign-up will be Oct. 1 at three sites, said Sunny Shreeve, chairperson of Thrive Allen County Meltdown.
Elaine Stewart will oversee sign-up of Moran area participants at Marmaton Valley High School from 8 to 10 a.m.
Kate Works, Humboldt coordinator, will have sign-up at The Family Physicians Clinic, 111 S. Ninth, from 8 to 10 a.m.
In Iola, Jake Lawrence, with Iola’s Recreation Department, will direct sign-up in the Recreation Community Building at Riverside Park from 9 to 11 a.m.
Cost of sign-up in all counties will be $12, which will include a T-shirt and special website access. Registration revenue also will help defray costs of the event.
Meltdown Allen County will run six weeks, but those elsewhere will have varying duration. Crawford County also will start on Oct.1. Neosho and Bourbon counties will kick off today. Wilson County will start Sept. 24 and Woodson County Oct. 8.
Nutrition and exercise opportunities also will vary by county, depending what local organizers prefer.
“We have a number of exercise opportunities scheduled in Allen County,” Shreeve said.
Those in place:
— Zumba classes, Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Recreation Community Building gymnasium, only during October.
— P90X Bootcamp, Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Rec building, also during October.
— Running club, early Tuesday evenings, with time to be announced, in Riverside Park. Also, Works will have a running program in Humboldt that will take participants from a leisurely walk to running 5 kilometers by the time the program ends; each session will be 20 to 30 minutes, starting with walking, then jogging and finally running.
— Tai Chi, Thursdays 7 to 8 p.m. in the Little Theater at Riverside Park. Tai Chi is martial arts without the fighting.
— Seniorcise, Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9 to 10 a.m. in the Little Theater at Riverside Park.
— Bike Riding Club, Thursdays and possibly Saturday mornings from Riverside Park. Another session, for leisurely rides on the Prairie Spirit Trail, starting at Cofachique Park, will be at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Mondays.
— Exercise in Humboldt will include sessions with weights and aerobics at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Humboldt High School weightroom, as well as Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. in the basement of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.
As for nutrition, Kathy McEwan, Extension Service agent for Family and Consumers Sciences, will have food classes, with dates and times to be announced, as well as a special “lighten your holiday meal” presentation before Thanksgiving.
REGISTRATION will include blood pressure, resting pulse rate and waist measurements as well as current weight, Shreeve noted, as a result of the emphasis on healthier lifestyles rather than just weight loss.
Shreeve said she is pleased many Allen Countians who were enrolled in the first two meltdowns have continued to pay attention to their weights and have maintained exercise programs. That has resulted in many people discontinuing medications that were required by conditions associated with them being overweight, she concluded.
