A small silver stereo fills a Pandora Avenue gymnasium with a steady dance beat, while a group of runners stretch, sip water or psych themselves up for a run on a sunny September day.
Gillie Easdon calls the group together in a circle. She makes announcements, cracks a couple of jokes and then sends the dozen or so runners out onto the streets of downtown Victoria.
At no point does Easdon, the co-ordinator of Every Step Counts, mention the addictions, mental illnesses or poverty that have brought this unique group together twice a week, rain or shine, since February.
She doesn't need to. They came to run.
"Some people arrive and they just have this weight and at the end of the session, they're glowing," Easdon says.
Every Step Counts is modelled on a Philadelphia program that encourages the city's homeless population to take up running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem.
The idea was brought here by the Victoria Foundation, which remains one of the program's sponsors, and is run as part of the Victoria Cool-Aid Society's REES program (Resources Education Employment Support).
Other donors include Vancity credit union, United Way, the Telus Community Board, the Jawl Foundation and Frontrunners Footwear.
Funding for the first year of the program was about $60,000, and organizers are securing cash for future years.
Every Step Counts is one of 11 charities participating in the Royal Victoria Marathon's Charity Pledge program. The group is also hosting "Every Carb Counts," a fundraising dinner on Oct. 9 at the Hotel Grand 91原创.
Rob Reid, the owner of Frontrunners, says he jumped at the chance to get involved. "What's really special is that everybody's coming from a different background, everybody has totally different challenges, but for that hour and a half ... everybody's there to support one another," Reid says.
Every Step Counts has hit such a stride a second group, meeting Wednesdays and Fridays, launched earlier this month.
Wayne Sheeran keeps a steady pace while crossing the Johnson Street Bridge.
The 61-year-old has been running with Every Step Counts for about six months. Before that, he wasn't much of an athlete.
"I wanted to succeed at something with physical activity," he says mid-stride.
And succeed he has. With the Times 91原创 10K and several five-kilometre races already under his belt, Sheeran is gearing up to run the eight-kilometre race as part of the Royal Victoria Marathon.
Sheeran says people tell him he looks healthier now, but it's the stuff they can't see -- his struggles with social anxieties and obsessive-compulsive disorder --that have markedly improved since he joined Every Step Counts."It inspires me," he says.
Easdon, 36, says the program works because it's structured enough that participants feel safe, but it's not so rigid that they feel managed.
Make no mistake: This is not a counselling group that runs, it's a running group that counsels.
"People don't have to tell me what's going on with them," Easdon says.
Every runner who joins the group gets a pair of second-hand shoes when they sign up. After 10 runs, they get a technical running shirt; after 15, Frontrunners fits them with brand-new shoes.
And after 25 runs, they get a pair of matching hats: One for them and one for someone in their life -- a family member, friend, doctor, social worker, who has supported them along the way.
Perry Evans jokes he's 50 going on 20. His arms ripple with muscle and his taut frame makes it easy to believe he was once a professional boxer. But he has also struggled with drugs and alcohol.
Running has helped shift his focus back to his health and away from what he describes as the "other side of the track."
Evans is one of the fastest runners in the group and wants to run the half-marathon in one hour and 40 minutes. And next year? The entire marathon.
After every run, the group meets back at the gym and Easdon leads a round of light stretching before the runners huddle, all hands in, and chant, "Every Step Counts."
Then they snack and sit around, talking and laughing.
No one mentions the addictions, mental illnesses or poverty that brought them here.
They don't need to. They came to run.
