Commit to a Healthier You in 2013

Life Time Fitness holds Commitment Day 5k Run around the country, including Chicago, for members to commit to a healthy lifestyle in 2013.

Life Time Fitness trainer Karie Stringer sees the annual uptick around New Year’s Day and into the first three months of a new year. There’s a big push from members and new members with New Year’s resolutions to lose weight. Stringer doesn’t necessarily think losing weight is a good New Year’s resolution. It’s all about being healthy, she said. “I’m looking for people to change their lifestyles,” the Algonquin-based endurance coach said. She is also the Run Club coordinator for the Algonquin fitness center. Life Time Fitness Commitment Day, a 5k run on Jan. 1 in downtown Chicago, is the perfect way to make that change. About 300 members of the Algonquin fitness center will be joining people from across the suburbs to run or walk in the 5k …

• Videos (1)

Editor's Corner

To Run Or Not To Run

I'm in awe of the 90 Buffalo Grove residents who ran in the Chicago Marathon. Meanwhile, I consider if I'm up for a 5K.

I'm the first to admit it — I've never been a runner.  Oh, sure, I have a litany of excuses … lingering knee problems, exercise-induced asthma, back pain from a recent car accident.  And, if no one is chasing me … well, you get the idea. But the other day, a friend asked me to run a 5K with her in December. I have two months to prepare for it. And, from the comfort of my couch, I'm seriously considering it. I look outside and think, "This would be a nice day for a run around the block." Then I find 100 excuses to do anything but that. Sadly, I'd rather scrub tile grout than lace up my running shoes. (But you should see how clean my bathrooms are.) Meanwhile, about 45,000 runners registered to participate in Sunday's Chicago Marathon. …