Maggie McKay (Host): Every year, Jefferson HealthCare sponsors the Rhody Run, and not only is it a fun event, but it also helps the community in so many ways. It encourages wellness and it benefits youth. So today, we'll have a conversation with the race director of the Rhody Run, Jeni Little. Welcome to To Your Health, a podcast from Jefferson HealthCare.

I'm your host, Maggie McKay. Welcome, Jeni. It's so nice to have you here. I can't wait to hear all about the Rhody Run.

 First of all, just tell us what the Rhody Run is and why it's such a special community tradition.

Jennifer "Jeni" Little: Rhody Run began as a way to promote cardiovascular health and it coincided with the rise in popularity of running in the late 70s and early 80s. The Rhody Run was originally a marathon for the first few years. It's a way that families gather and oftentimes people will have kind of a running walking reunion as they're going along the course and seek classmates and, and people really gather around during the Rhody festival week and the Rhody run at the end of that.

Host: That's so fun. I like the walking part. That would be me. So the Rhody Run benefits several local organizations. Can you talk about the goal behind this?

Jennifer "Jeni" Little: The Port Townsend Marathon Association, which puts on the Rhody Run, is a charitable non-profit. And we've always helped support local school clubs and youth programs. When we emerged from the two year pandemic shutdown, there was an opportunity to refine our goals and to refresh our focus. And, May happens to be Mental Health Awareness Month, and so we decided to help local youth organizations with that goal in mind.

Host: And what are some of the organizations that are going to benefit? What kind of work do they do in the community?

Jennifer "Jeni" Little: Jumping Mouse Children's Center, which provides weekly one on one therapy session for children ages 3 to 12 with specially trained therapists. They also work with parents and caregivers. And then the Benji Project provides classes, workshops, and camps to teach mindfulness and self compassion tools to children ages 11 to 19, working to provide capacity for stress management. And then finally, Rivals Athletics, which is a collaboration with Port Townsend and Chimicum High School Sports. And, we have the track team, the cross country team, the football team help volunteer on race day. And we provide funds for their camps and other financial needs that they have throughout the season. We also work with The Brinnon Quilcene Dollars for Scholars, which provides scholarship opportunities to post secondary education for members of the Brinnon Quilcene communities, and that group, they are our course marshals on the 5K route.

Host: And when we talk about youth, are we talking like anywhere from grade school up to high school, college level?

Jennifer "Jeni" Little: Yes.

Host: So where can people find out more about the run and who it benefits? I mean, you just told us a lot, but if somebody wanted to look it up.

Jennifer "Jeni" Little: Rhodyrun.com, which has been our long time website and then social media posts. We have a vibrant social media presence on, on all those.

Host: And finally, Jeni, you like to talk about the power of inviting people to participate. Can you talk about this and what it means for the community and for the Rhody Run?

Jennifer "Jeni" Little: Well, I would like to invite people to invite people to walk and run. For me, years ago, probably 25 years ago, an acquaintance invited me to participate in a relay race with a group of women. And at the time, I was not really doing anything for physical health and it totally changed the trajectory of my life.

And that's been kind of my focus as I coached for a number of years. I coached cross country and track and just the idea of, of inviting people to participate and also being willing to say, go ahead and say yes. So I'll go and walk that three miles or and join in and, it always helps to walk or run with, with a buddy, with a friend or a group of people.

It's a lifetime thing people can do, walking or running. And, so I just want to encourage people to, invite your friends or acquaintances to participate.

Host: Isn't that wild that just an acquaintance invited you and now you're the race director. That's pretty wild, 25 years later.

Jennifer "Jeni" Little: It is pretty wild.

Host: I had sort of a similar thing. I do this bootcamp class and this guy was not a runner at all. And I certainly was not, but I was doing a 5k just to try it, just to see for fun. And I said, why don't you do it with us? Cause a group, and he's like, nah, anyway, he did it. And fast forward 10 years, he does like five marathons a year. He has like many medals. He's a marathoner all because I said, just do the 5k with us and see. And he loved running. So you never know. So the more people that ask someone else, ask someone else, like a chain reaction. So get as many people as you can involved, correct?

 Well, thank you so much for filling us in on the Rhody Run and the wonderful tradition that it is. Again, that is Rhody Run director, Jeni Little. And if you'd like to find out more, you can go to rhodyrun.com. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. I'm Maggie McKay. Thanks for listening to To Your Health, a podcast from Jefferson HealthCare.