AORTA News: September 28th, 2026

Finally, some fall running weather!

A beautiful 60°F for this past AORTA Saturday Group Run! Our first cool Saturday morning of the season and perfect timing for National Family Health & Fitness Day!

Great weather, great turnout, and a great way to start the weekend!

Upcoming Local Races

Mercy Medical 5K/10K
When: Saturday, Ocbober 03, 2026
Time: 8:00 AM (1-Mile) 8:30 (5K/10K)
Where: Ogletree Shopping Center, Auburn
Distance: 1M, 5K, 10K
Fee: $20 (1M), $35 (5K), $45 (10K)
Description: Come join us for the 3rd annual Mercy Medical Run to raise money from this race, all of it, will be donated to Mercy Medical. For over 25 years, Mercy Medical has fulfilled this mission through the generous financial support of our community. The clinic is staffed primarily by volunteers who selflessly give their time to love and serve the underserved of our community.

The 7th Korean American Youth Leadership 5K

When: Saturday, Ocbober 03, 2026
Time: 9:00 AM
Where: Kiesel Park
Distance: 5K
Fee: $25
Description: Organized by Korean American students in the Auburn area through Auburn University Outreach Global’s Korea Corner, the event is part of a youth leadership initiative that gives students hands-on experience planning and managing a community fundraising project. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Korean American Paralympic Committee. Participants of all abilities are invited to come out, get active, and support a great cause.

Upcoming Local Races

Walk For Life + 5K
- When: Saturday, October 10, 2026
- Time: 8:00 AM (1-Mile), 8:30 AM (5K)
- Where: Opelika Sportsplex
- Fee: $30 (5K), $10 (1M), $0 for 12 & Under (1M) 
- Description: Looking for an easy and fun way to make a difference for LIFE? Join Women's Hope Medical Clinic & Hope Adoptions as a runner or fundraising walker for our upcoming Walk For Life + 5K! By getting sponsors to support your walk, you can help reach our fundraising goal and play a significant role in cultivating a culture of life.

Tutu Trot 5K
- When: Saturday, October 17, 2026
- Time: 8:00 AM (Fun Run), 8:30 AM (5K)
- Where: Town Creek Park
- Fee: $30 (5K), $25 (Fun Run)
- Description: Join us for this fun, family-friendly event that benefits the Down South Cancer Foundation and celebrates breast cancer survivors while raising awareness and support for those affected by cancer in our community. Participants are encouraged to embrace the theme and run or walk in a tutu — a tutu is included with registration! Come run, walk, wear your tutu, and help support a great cause!

Beat Bama Food Drive 5K
- When: Sunday, November 01, 2026
- Time: 2:00 PM (1-Mile), 2:30 PM (5K)
- Where: Cater Lawn, Auburn University
- Fee: $38 (5K), $18 (1-Mile)
- Description: The Beat Bama Run Fest is a charity color run benefiting the Food Bank of East Alabama. It offers a 5K race and a one-mile fun run for participants of varying fitness levels, encouraging community involvement by collecting non-perishable food donations. Pre-registration is encouraged to save on fees, and the event includes water stops, refreshments, and children's entertainment, making it a well-rounded experience focused on fitness, community engagement, and philanthropy for participants of all ages.

Unity Wellness Center AIDS Day Run/Walk
- When: Saturday, November 14, 2026
- Time: 8:00 AM (1-Mile), 8:30 PM (5K)
- Where: Town Creek Park, Auburn, AL
- Fee: $5 (1-Mile), $5 (5K) (t-shirt $20)
- Description: Join us for the 9th Annual Unity Wellness Center World AIDS Day Run/Walk, featuring a $5 fee for both the 5K and 1-mile events (with an option to add a shirt for $20). Age group awards will be given, and there will be a raffle and refreshments for the whole family. The 1-mile walk starts at 8:00 am (untimed), and the 5K timed race begins at 8:30 am. This event commemorates World AIDS Day, a global day of unity against HIV, and supports Unity Wellness Center's vital services, including HIV testing, counseling, medical care, case management, and prevention education. 

Active Auburn Jingle Jog & Santa Stroll 
- When: Saturday, December 05, 2026
- Time: 6:30 AM (1-Mile), 7:00 AM (5K)
- Where: Toomer’s Corner, Downtown Auburn
- Fee: $20 (Fun Run), $30 (5K) 
           *Prices increase after November 26.
- Description: The Jingle Jog 5k and Santa Stroll Fun Run are here again – so pull out those Santa hats and ugly sweaters! Join Active Auburn on Saturday, December 5th at 6:30 a.m. as we ring in the holiday season in style! The Santa Stroll Fun Run (1 mile) will begin at 6:30 a.m. at Toomer’s Corner and the Jingle Jog 5k will begin at 7:00 a.m. at Toomer’s Corner.

Auburn Toys for Tots 5K/10K and Fun Run
- When: Saturday, December 12, 2025
- Time: 8:00 AM (1-Mile), 8:30 AM (5K/10K)
- Where: Town Creek Park
- Fee: $20 (1-Mile), $30 (5K), $40 (10K)
  ** Prices increase after October 15th 
- Description: Mark your calendars and start the holiday season in a festive mood with a 10K, 5K, or 1-Mile!  All participants are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy. to be distributed to children in need. This year, Toys for Tots donations are especially important. the weak economy has caused many to lose jobs, be furloughed, or be forced out of work for long periods of time. Families in these difficult situations desperately needed a little extra holiday cheer this holiday season. The Toys for Tots race will help bring people together during the holidays. All participants who register online by November 30th will receive a souvenir festive t-shirt!

Weekly Whimsy

Top 10 Strength Exercises For Runners
Matteo Sargenti, The Running Week

The right strength work makes you a faster, more durable runner. The wrong lifts eat into recovery without giving anything back.

Strength training for runners has finally moved past the debate stage. The research is clear: runners who lift consistently run faster, get injured less, and hold form deeper into a race. What is not as clear is which lifts actually matter, and which ones runners keep doing because a coach in a video said so. The list below reflects what running coaches keep programming across marathon build-ups, track blocks, and injury rehab, along with three common favourites they wish would quietly disappear.

Why Strength Training Works For Runners
A 2017 systematic review in the European Journal of Sport Science found that heavy strength training improved running economy by around 2 to 8 percent across trained distance runners. Running economy is how much oxygen your body uses to hold a given pace. A more economical runner holds the same pace at a lower heart rate, and that translates directly into more speed at the same effort.

The three benefits that stack
The first is force output. Stronger legs deliver more force to the ground per stride, which means fewer strides per kilometre. The second is tendon resilience. Loaded strength work thickens tendons and makes them less prone to the overuse injuries that end most marathon builds. The third is late-race form. Strength endurance in the glutes, hips, and core is what keeps your knees from collapsing inward at kilometre 35. None of that comes from more mileage alone.

The 10 Exercises Coaches Keep Programming
Every lift below meets two tests. It targets a movement pattern that shows up in running, and it responds well to being loaded.

Exercise 1: Back squat
The king of lower-body strength for a reason. Heavy back squats train the quads, glutes, and hamstrings to produce force, and they teach the trunk to stay rigid under load. Two to four sets of five to eight reps, once or twice a week, is the standard prescription for runners in a base or build phase.

Exercise 2: Romanian deadlift
The counterpart to the squat, focused on the posterior chain: hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. Runners tend to be quad-dominant, and the RDL is the fastest way to rebalance that. Keep the bar close to the shins and hinge from the hips.

Exercise 3: Single-leg Romanian deadlift
Running is a single-leg sport. Every stride is one foot on the ground. The single-leg RDL trains hip stability, hamstring strength, and ankle control at the same time, and it exposes side-to-side imbalances that a barbell lift will hide.

Exercise 4: Split squat
Rear-foot elevated split squats build unilateral strength in the quads and glutes and load the hip flexor of the trailing leg. Runners with a history of IT band or knee trouble almost always test into this movement.

Exercise 5: Step-up
Deliberate, controlled step-ups onto a challenging box teach concentric power out of a deep hip flexion angle. That is the exact angle you need on hills and in the final push at the end of intervals.

Exercise 6: Calf raise (bent-knee and straight-knee)
Calves take an enormous share of the impact load in running, and calf and Achilles injuries derail more training weeks than almost anything else. Straight-knee raises target the gastrocnemius, bent-knee raises target the soleus. Runners need both.

Exercise 7: Hip thrust
The single best isolated glute builder there is, and glute strength is the difference between a runner who holds form and one who folds at the hips late in a race. Load it heavy over time.

Exercise 8: Farmer carry
A loaded walk trains grip, trunk stability, and postural endurance under fatigue. It is one of the simplest exercises on the list and one of the most translatable to running form at the end of a long effort.

Exercise 9: Dead bug
A core stability drill that trains the anti-extension pattern, the ability of the trunk to resist arching under load. That resistance is what keeps a running gait tight and efficient. Slow, controlled reps beat fast sloppy ones every time.

Exercise 10: Side plank with hip abduction
Targets the gluteus medius, the small hip stabilizer that keeps the pelvis level in single-leg stance. A weak glute medius is behind more mysterious knee, hip, and IT band pain in runners than any other single muscle.

The 3 Exercises Coaches Wish Runners Would Skip
Not because they are dangerous. Because they cost recovery without giving runners much back for the mileage they cut.

Skip 1: The seated leg extension
Isolates the quads without any of the coordination running actually requires. A back squat trains the same muscles alongside the glutes, hips, and trunk. The leg extension trains one joint in a chair, uses recovery, and does not translate.

Skip 2: The BOSU ball squat
Popular in physio settings and often misapplied by healthy runners in general training. You cannot load a BOSU squat heavy enough to build meaningful strength, and the balance element does not carry over into a running gait that already has plenty of stability demands.

Skip 3: Heavy plyometric depth jumps as a weekly staple
True depth jumps from a high box are a peaking tool for elite sprinters, not a base-phase habit for distance runners. The eccentric load on the knees and Achilles is high, the recovery cost is significant, and most of the plyometric benefit runners actually need is already produced by low-box hops and pogo hops.

How To Fit It Into A Running Week
The programming question matters more than the exercise selection.

Two sessions a week is the sweet spot
Most coaches settle on two full-body strength sessions per week during base and build phases, dropped to one during a taper. Each session runs 30 to 45 minutes, includes 3 to 5 of the exercises above, and stops short of failure.

Keep hard days hard, easy days easy
Stack your strength session on the same day as a hard run rather than the day after, so easy days stay easy. For a full guide to that scheduling problem, our piece on how to combine running and strength training without burning out walks through the practical structure.

Load it, actually
The single biggest mistake runners make with strength work is going too light for too long. The point is not to get sweaty. The point is to build force, and force requires load. If you are already comfortable with the basics, our list of 7 essential strength exercises every runner needs gives you a tighter starter block to build from.

The Takeaway
Strength training pays off for runners in economy, durability, and late-race form, and the ten exercises on this list cover every movement pattern that actually shows up on the road. Skip the three that keep sneaking into programs without earning their spot, and give the rest twelve weeks of honest effort before deciding whether they work.

Link to article: https://tinyurl.com/5x83a4bm

Quote of the Week

         Life Happens.

         Running Helps.

                    Anonymous

Video of the Week

The Psychology Of People Who Love Running (14:15)

** AORTA provides this informational video to its members as a courtesy and does not endorse any particular product, process, or service. 

Ongoing Events

RunGo For Turn-By-Turn Directions!
RunGo provides turn-by-turn navigation allowing you to just enjoy your runs without having to think about looking for street names and when you may have to turn next. Other great features include, audio cues with your running stats, split updates, the ability to share your runs via social media, and create new routes. Another great feature of the app is the ability to work offline. You can create and download your routes ahead of time, before your run so you don’t have to use data during your run.

Race Volunteers Needed!
As a runner, we know your time is valuable. But if you have a couple hours to spare, we could use your help for one of the upcoming AORTA supported or directed races! Assisting at a local race is a fun and rewarding experience. You are surrounded by health conscious individuals that, like you, are motivated fitness enthusiasts and appreciate the effort of volunteers.

Water Stop Volunteers Needed
Water stop signs and coolers are available at the following location: 1536 Professional Parkway, Auburn, AL. (Thank you Adahli Massey!). Coolers and signs can be picked up Monday-Thursday from 8AM-4PM and on Fridays from 8AM-12 noon. Items are in the room next to the back door. If you are unable to pick up supplies on these dates/times, e-mail clemster@aol.com to make alternative arrangements (we deliver!).

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