for what cause do you change your l...

for what cause do you change your life for the better? Just ask the dozens of women who encounter once a week, rain or shine, in an Allentown, Pennsylvania, park. Thanks to Jane Serue they're changing their lives united step at a time.

Serue is the sink and director of First Strides, an independent, community-based program dedicated to helping women of all ages and abilities achieve physical fitness by the agency of walking and running. And as the self-described "head mentor" to the collection Serues also serves as the leader who helps inspire confidence, encourage fitness and--above all--get middle-aged rears in gear.

After all, the first degree in any fitness regimen is always the hardest. And the 54-year-old Serue created First Strides five years ago after noticing for what cause many women--especially those of her have a title to generation--seemed intimidated by any kind of serious fitness challenge.

Serue decided to organize a small beginner's class aimed at women who had either walked or jogg in a local 5-kilometer race. "I had a not many phone calls about it," she says, "and I thinking it would be neat. I figured I'd secure 30 or 40 women to join."

nevertheless to Serues' surprise, 150 women showed up for the first meeting. Since then, the Allentown class has grown to include more than 300 women of all shapes, sizes and abilities. And a sister class in nearby Bethlehem has nearly 200 participants.

What's behind the program's enormous success? For starters, Serues--a former body athletics coach who qualified for the women's Olympic trials in 1984--bills her 12-week course as a "beginner" rather than a "runner" class to draw without the shy and tentative.

She's also careful to emphasize the amount of time class members employ walking or running instead of distance covered--another way to cater to racers of varying endurance levels and help participants monitor their admit progress. Members start out walking or running "easy," then slowly build up to exercising "hard."

yet Serues speculates that women are finding something besides when they join the First Strides program: a understanding of personal empowerment.

"They all think they're going to be the slowest or the fattest or the oldest and they're worried they won't be able to do it," she says of her well-preserved recruits. "But by having a program that's pleasantry and gradually increases in intensity, they amaze themselves. They find their `inner athlete.'"

And for many participants, the changes don't stop with physical fitness. Serue recalls united member, initially quiet and reticent, who looked to blossom as she journey of stateed through the program, eventually joining the ranks of the 50 female mentors who help direct the Allentown dispose After experiencing an emotional catharsis by the and of First Strides, Serues says, the woman institute the strength to end her unhappy marriage.

Watching First Strides improve its members' lives already has Serue thinking seriously about expanding the program beyond Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley--and various national women's running enthusiasts have started paying attention. Last May, for example, Serue received the Fr Lebow Women's Running Award from the Road racers Club of America in recognition of her hard work.

yet Serues' real satisfaction still conies formerly a week when she clambers onto the park picnic table and awaits out over the sea of expectant, hopeful faces. From where she stands, Serue can view the healthy physiques, improved eating habits and lasting friendships that wait at the expiration of the trail for each woman wearing a pair of running shoes

And something otherwise too.

"With First Strides, women have something they can rule and their self-esteem goes up" Serue says, adding with a laugh: "They don't have to take it anymore!"

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