TrackTown Fitness Concludes Most Successful Season
Participants gather on Pre’s Trail to cheer after the final TrackTown Fitness session of the season. Photo: Jessica Gabriel, TrackTown USA
By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA
EUGENE, Ore. – The final TrackTown Fitness session of 2019 was held along Pre’s Trail on Easter Sunday morning.
Now in its fifth year, the free community program had its most successful season ever with a total attendance of 1,707 over 13 weeks for an average of about 130 runners and walkers each session.
With Hayward Field currently under construction, TrackTown Fitness utilized three different venues this year: Autzen Stadium, the Moshofsky Center, and Pre’s Trail. In addition, PeaceHealth enhanced the program with its weekly “Run with the Doc” initiative in which runners and walkers were encouraged to chat about a healthy, active lifestyle with participating doctors.
Dr. David Saenger, a PeaceHealth cardiologist, had this advice for those who wanted to develop a healthier lifestyle.
“Exercise should become a habit you have to do every day,” Dr. Saenger said. “I always tell people it is like brushing your teeth. You wouldn’t go a day without brushing your teeth, so you shouldn’t go a day without exercise.”
Dr. David Saenger, a PeaceHealth cardiologist, was on hand at the final TrackTown Fitness session of the season. Photo: Jessica Gabriel, TrackTown USA
One person who embodies those habits is local marathon runner Kathy Ward. She served as a Run Hub pacer at the Eugene Marathon on April 28 for those targeting a 4:20 finish. Ward, who has completed six marathons, said she enjoys the relaxed running of pacing versus the grind of competing.
“When I finished Boston, that was my fifth marathon when I crossed the finish line, and I said ‘I’m never doing another marathon,’” Ward said. “But for pacing, I meet people from all around the country and they would be talking to me. It’s just so fun to meet people and find out where they are coming from.”
“I’ve become friends with all these kids because they are in their 20s and 30s and are asking me for advice,” she added. “We just talk the whole way. It’s been so much fun training.”
Kathy Ward, a TrackTown Fitness participant, holds up her pacing sign during the Eugene Marathon. Photo: Eugene Marathon
Ward’s training, of course, has included TrackTown Fitness on Sunday mornings since moving to Eugene four years ago.
“Some of the people here have been here since the first time I came,” Ward said. “It’s been so fun and now we all go to TrackTown Tuesdays. The running community in this town is awesome.”
That running community was out in droves for the Eugene Marathon weekend, with packed races for the Duck Dash and 5k on Saturday, and the marathon and half-marathon on Sunday. Participants crossed the finish at the 50-yard line of Autzen Stadium, then enjoyed the post-race festival in the stadium concourse, the site for the majority of TrackTown Fitness sessions this season.
Although TrackTown Fitness has finished for the year, the next TrackTown Tuesday will be May 7 at the Downtown Athletic Club.
Family Dynamic on Display at TrackTown Fitness
TrackTown Fitness participants enjoy the views around Autzen Stadium. Photo: Hannah Clauss, TrackTown USA
By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA
EUGENE, Ore. – As 2019 rolls on, TrackTown Fitness continues to bring together runners and walkers of all backgrounds on Sunday mornings.
One family, in particular, illustrates the pervasive sense of community that has become the program’s defining characteristic. On Feb. 3, Jim Johnson and his son, Eric, worked to follow the quick pace of Eric’s young son, Holbrook.
“This is me and my wife’s third year of coming here,” Jim Johnson said. “We try to maintain a good base of fitness. She is a master’s track runner, so this fits in really well.”
Jim Johnson’s wife, Mary, was a UO track athlete in the 1980s. Together, they now share the joy of exercise with their son and grandson.
“We just love the community feel of this,” Jim Johnson said. “The people you see coming year after year, watching them progress. This whole feel of being involved. It’s a great party and gets you out of bed on Sunday mornings.”
Eric enjoys the family time that he is able to share with his Dad and his son.
“I grew up running with my dad,” Eric Johnson said. “It’s just about being fit and being healthy – and coming out here and trying to instill that mindset in Holbrook.”
The value of physical activity at every age is an important tenet of the program, and it is often highlighted through the ‘Run with the Doc’ segment. The most recent iteration of TrackTown Fitness on Feb. 10 featured pediatric hospitalist Dr. Serena Black from PeaceHealth Medical Group.
Dr. Serena Black, a pediatric hospitalist with PeaceHealth Medical Group, discusses the importance of physical activity for people of all ages. Photo: Hannah Clauss, TrackTown USA
Dr. Black applauded the effort she saw on display during the workout. “It’s been wonderful,” Dr. Black said. “This is a nice opportunity to interact and see these people in their different stages of training. They are all motivated to be out here, even in the cold…I think that program is a real motivator if you have a plan every Sunday to come out.”
Dr. Black is a runner herself and reminded participants that it is never too late to start a healthy lifestyle.
“I would tell people that I was never a runner or physically active till three and half years ago,” Dr. Black said. “I didn’t think I could do it. I just started with a few miles and gradually worked in to it and it’s been such a liberating thing to realize how much your body really can do. Everybody at different levels should be out there moving and interacting with the environment. Try to set a goal and try to reach it.”
OTC Elite athletes have been in attendance throughout the program to encourage those goals – Nijel Amos, Hassan Mead, Ben Blankenship, Tom Farrell, Sabrina Southerland, Andy Trouard and Vincent Ciattei among them. The elite athletes have been eager to coach, answer questions, and provide support for the runners and walkers week to week.
The next TrackTown Fitness will be Sunday, Feb. 17 at 8 a.m at Autzen Stadium.
TrackTown Fitness Kicks Off 2019 at Autzen Stadium
A crowd of 200 gather in the concourse of Autzen before the first TrackTown Fitness of the year. (Photo: Hannah Clauss)
By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA
EUGENE, Ore. – The 2019 TrackTown Fitness program started its 13-week journey on a foggy morning at Autzen Stadium last Sunday. An estimated 200 runners and walkers came prepared and eager to set their fitness goals for the year.
Andy Trouard, one of three OTC Elite athletes in attendance, was impressed by the big turnout for the first meeting.
“You don’t get the title ‘TrackTown USA’ for no reason,” Trouard said.
With Hayward Field under construction, TrackTown Fitness is now held at Autzen Stadium. The route along the concourse and perimeter of the stadium stretches 700 meters. The trees mixed with the fog along the northeast side provided a scenic backdrop for the early morning participants.
Vin Lananna, UO associate athletic director, kicked things off with an overview of the fitness program. Lananna emphasized the great opportunity to run or walk at Autzen Stadium and touched on an upcoming session to be held on Pre’s Trail. The overall message was to motivate the crowd to be active during the program and beyond.
Dr. Lorne Bigley, a family medicine physician with PeaceHealth Medical Group, also spoke to the crowd about the vital role of physical activity in overall health. He did so as part of “Run with the Doc”, an engagement made possible by TrackTown Fitness partner PeaceHealth.
Dr. Lorne Bigley of PeaceHealth Medical Group discusses the importance of living an active lifestyle. (Photo: TTUSA)
No experience is required for TrackTown Fitness. The free weekly program is open to all ages and abilities. On Sunday, toddlers, seniors, and those in between were seen having a great time. Runners, joggers and walkers can go at their own pace. The goal is to start the week with a sense of community and exercise, and to carry that momentum forward.
OTC Elite’s Ben Blankenship, Sabrina Southerland and Trouard were on hand to support the runners and walkers. They enjoyed the enthusiasm of the crowd.
“Today was pretty cool,” Southerland said. “Meeting all these people, coming out so early in the morning to walk, run and jog. Really amazing to get to know a lot of the people here in the community and their passion for running.”
The next TrackTown Fitness will be Sunday, Feb. 3 at 8 a.m. at Autzen Stadium.
Patrignelli Inspires Health, Confidence at TrackTown Fitness
“You can relate to everybody no matter what their ability,” Megan Patrignelli said. (Photo: TrackTown USA)
By Linden Moore / TrackTown USA
EUGENE, Ore. – It’s a chilly Sunday morning in February as Megan Patrignelli prepares for her weekly workout at Hayward Field. The air is crisp and clouds loom overhead, yet Patrignelli seizes the early wake-up call to work out with more than 100 recreational walkers, joggers and runners from the Eugene-Springfield area.
The crowd gathers in the East Grandstand to hear the morning’s training regimen laid out by 2016 U.S. Olympic Coach Vin Lananna. This is the beginning of TrackTown Fitness, where Patrignelli volunteers her Sunday mornings to help community members achieve their fitness goals.
“You can relate to everybody no matter what their ability,” Patrignelli said.
The Sunday morning sessions are just a small portion of Patrignelli’s passion for fitness that extends far beyond the track. While running is the base on which she builds her foundation, she has found ways to leverage it through different outlets as a platform to promote confident, healthy lifestyles for young children and adults.
When she’s not lacing up her own shoes for morning training runs, she dedicates her afternoons to immersing herself in the community. Her involvement spans across multiple organizations – in particular the Oregon Special Olympics. Despite her busy schedule, what motivates her are the people she interacts with each day.
“Everything I do on the side gives me extra energy because I’m passionate, so it doesn’t feel like I have to go do something,” she said.
The Special Olympics has been Patrignelli’s passion for the past couple of years. She works year-round for the organization as a coach in soccer, weight-lifting and track and field, doing her best to develop her athletes both on and off the field. Like many coaches, she focuses on communicating effective strategies for each person. Some days can be difficult, such as the time when one of her athletes wanted to lift a heavier weight than they were ready for. That’s when Patrignelli reminds them that sports are a process. She’s excited to coach at the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle this summer.
“Getting to know people is the biggest thing,” she said. “Once you’re there, they learn who you are and it’s an athlete-coach relationship. I’m excited to see them grow.”
What most people don’t know is that Patrignelli had to grow into her infectious personality.
Growing up in New York, she battled social anxiety throughout her childhood to the extent that she was intimidated to interact with her teammates. Close to her family, she didn’t consider moving almost 2,800 miles across the country to the University of Oregon until late in high school. When she did land in Eugene, she found it just as difficult to socialize with her collegiate teammates.
“I’m a really shy person; I dealt with social anxiety in college and it took a long time for me to become friends with my teammates,” Patrignelli said.
Her four years at Oregon were filled with steady improvement on the track.
(Photo: GoDucks.com)
Her first breakthrough came as a junior in 2013 at the NCAA West Preliminary Round, where she snagged the 12th and final qualifying spot for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10 minutes, 9 seconds.
On paper, the odds didn’t stack in her favor.
Patrignelli was not among the favorites to advance, and the women’s steeplechase at the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas, was delayed until 12:30 a.m. due to inclement weather, which forced the athletes to warm up in the hallway of a nearby building.
Normally, those would not be ideal conditions, but Patrignelli made the best of what she was given, overcoming a rough patch in which she was struggling with a negative mindset and a fear of racing.
“It was a really imperfect build-up and somehow I just got out on the line and did it,” she said. “It was a proud moment after a couple years of not feeling like myself.”
The achievement of reaching the NCAA Championships for the first time was a satisfying end to a year when she became a more vocal leader.
“I knew that I was able to be myself again running because everything was wrong, and I still did it,” she said. “I felt like I embraced who I was, and it translated on and off the track.”
In essence, a new version of Patrignelli was born.
Her personality has blossomed since that year as she began to take on leadership roles with Team Run Eugene, a local semi-professional running group focused on community interaction.
This is also when she, unlike her one-on-one coaching interactions with the Special Olympics, recently found confidence in addressing large groups of people during practice and being a vocal leader among her teammates.
“She’s gone from the person who loves to be supportive to the one who can talk in front of a group,” said Ian Dobson, who has been Patrignelli’s coach since 2015.
“I’m super proud of her for that because she’s put herself in uncomfortable positions and figured out how to make it a good thing.”
Dobson also sees it mutually beneficial to combine performance and personality.
(Photo: Team Run Eugene)
“It’s rewarding because it definitely reinforces the connection between performance and engagement,” Dobson said. “Megan’s very genuine about it so the relationships go beyond ‘hey how are you doing’ – she actually wants to know.”
At TrackTown Fitness each Sunday, Patrignelli is also charged with bringing the group back together after they finish their workout for the team cheer. As the group shouts in unison, her personality shines through and the echo harkens back to her own personal journey.