These upcoming races have people moving about in the early morning and late afternoon darkness of October. I have seen you running and walking along sidewalks and streets and at the Trussell Park walking trail.

Many of you are no doubt preparing for the upcoming Batesville Rotary Club’s 10-Miler and 5K Gateway to the Delta Race on Saturday, November 15. That will be followed on December 13 by the Jingle Bell Rock and Run sponsored by the Batesville Junior Auxiliary.

Add those events to the Aprilfest 5K sponsored by Sardis Chamber of Commerce and the Heflin House Museum and the Batesville Springfest 5K in May and we’ve got plenty of reasons to be moving and not sitting in Panola County.

(There’s also the Dragonfly Triathlon at Sardis Reservoir in June, but that’s an event that’s more appropriate for super athletes and these lines are mostly written for the more pedestrian among us. Literally.)

The appeal of the 5K events is that walkers are welcome, and one exercise study after another reinforces the health benefits of brisk walking. That’s true for anyone who is physically able to put one foot in front of another, no matter how old, out-of-shape, overweight and all of the foregoing.

Directing that walking energy into a 5K course with new and old friends makes it fun and beneficial. It adds a collective synergy for everyone.

The more people who participate the more who want to participate. It gets us up and moving away from our sitting, driving, device-devoted lifestyles and we know we need to.

 And if some of those walkers decide to run all or a portion of the course, so much the better. If others who make good time on the 5K decide that they want to see how they can handle 10 miles …

You get the idea.

All of these races are organized as benefits and have one or more designated recipients of proceeds. The Sardis Chamber and Heflin House Museum raise funds for their operation. Springfest 5K benefits the Panola County Humane Society, Gateway to the Delta and Jingle Bell Rock and Run proceeds will help fund the programs and projects of the Rotary Club and the Jr. Auxiliary, respectively.

But an indirect benefit accruing to the entire community is that the activity inspires us to want to be more active ourselves. How many current participants in the Springfest 5K were first spectators?

Or who has considered the arduous demands on Dragonfly triathletes (.5 mile swim, 18 miles on bike, four-mile run) and not thought to himself or herself, I need to get more exercise.

The synergy of multiple, active events that make people get up and move has an impact on us all even when we don’t even realize it.

And that may be worth even more to the community than the funds raised and distributed among the worthy causes.