Smokers ready to lace up in Halifax Lung Run

Nineteen smokers are preparing to line up for their first ever road race in Halifax, on Aug. 9.

They’ll take part in the third annual Credit Union Atlantic Lung Run 5K.

The race will be a culmination of a unique 9-week ‘learn-to-run’ program, designed specifically for smokers.

“It’s important for society to continue looking for different approaches to help people quit smoking,” says Louis Brill, President and CEO, Lung Association of Nova Scotia.

It’s a learn-to-run program, rather than a traditional smoking cessation workshop.

The focus isn’t on quitting smoking, although that is the ultimate goal.

The emphasis remains on learning to run, and improving the participants’ fitness.

“[Within a couple of weeks] they really wanted to improve their times. They started saying to each other ‘if I cut down on my smoking, I’ll be able to improve my time,'” Brill says.

The participants are now at a variety of different levels, from walkers to walk-joggers, to those who should be able to run the full 5K.

But when the training began in June, hardly any of them would have been comfortable with the idea of lining up for the start of a race, he says.

Brill, who has previous experience coaching elite runners as well beginners, confidently predicts that all of the smokers will finish the 5K.

There are plans to continue the program even after the Lung Run, and there has been interest from Lung Associations across Canada in setting up something similar in other provinces.