Jiggle Butt Run

Today was the 4th Annual Jiggle Butt Run.

4 years ago, the last Saturday of 2006, there were ~30 women who met at River Legacy park and ran a few miles. The goal, to raise some food for the Arlington Women's Shelter. Everyone brought a few cans of food and we ran around the park in the cold.

The next year (2007) there was a larger crowd of women, probably ~70, maybe 80 of us. This time we were donating shoes for the Women's Shelter and it was at River Legacy park again. We ran a different route, it was a little colder and a lot of fun.

The next Jiggle Butt Run had to be rolled over to the 1st Saturday of the new year, 2009, due to when New Year's Day fell on the calender. This year was grossly underestimated and after seeing 300 participants register, another 200 showed up to register the day of the race. It was a beautiful day for a run/walk through the park. However, many women did not get shirts, in fact they barely had enough paper to get every one registered for the race. They knew that the next year would far exceed the capacity that the park is supposed to hold. Bigger plans needed to be made. A bigger committee needed to support the planning of the next year if it was going to continue to grow at such a rapid pace.

This year, a larger committee was established: around 14-15 of us. Each person was designated a certain area: volunteers, wiggle butt, vendors, sponsors, donations, awards, t-shirts, teams, etc. Then the work began to be declared a non-profit group and trademarking the name. We started working on the race in October. It is amazing how much can get done when you have so many people working on the same project!

This year, we had a pre-event party at Teesie's Attic (a boutique store in the Highlands). We changed the venue to the Maverick Athletic Center of the UTA campus. We had a representative from Safe Haven at the run to accept clothes and other donations. We had over 30 vendors and tons of door prizes for the runners. We had 2 cops that rode the course ahead of the fastest runner to keep the streets safe. We also had a first aid area that (thankfully) did not need to be utilized beyond a band*aid or two. There was also a "Wiggle Butt" run, in which kids under 12 ran 1 mile. Since it was 27 degrees outside, we had the kids run 9 laps around the indoor track above the exhibition area. (Very cute!)The turnout? Over 1000 women turned out in the brrrr(!) cold to run and walk together. We had over 500 women register as teams. The teams ranged in numbers from 5-34 women. Safe Haven collected over 3 flatbeds of clothes and essentials. Overall, it was a raging success that was above and beyond any of our expectations. To God be the glory!