SBQ Magazine, a publication of the Sports Backers, sat down with Governor Tim Kaine last month for a discussion of his views on individual, family, and community exercise and found running and weightlifting at the top of his fitness regime.

Kaine's remarks appear in the quarterly magazine's summer issue, which is distributed free in the Richmond area and will hit the streets the first week of August. In lengthy interview, he explained his passion for canoeing, his family's passion for camping and outdoor adventures, especially in Virginia, and how due to his middle son Woody's enthusiasm for running events, he and his family started entering the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K in the spring and the Ntelos 8K in the fall.

"Woody kind of started us on -- he was big into running 5K and 10K races, so he ran his first 10K when he was probably seven or eight years old," recalled Kaine. "He really likes doing those and so that kind of got us running. I was not a big runner. I mean I would go out for a run every once in a while just to clear my head or get in shape a little bit. But I would not do these running events, but Woody really liked doing them. So, Anne started to run. She had never been a runner. She started to run and then I started to run a little bit more, so we have done the (Ukrop's) Monument Avenue 10K, I do not know, four to five times. We have done the Ntelos 8K in the fall."

And not only is Governor Kaine running with his family, he is also encouraging his staffers to join in too.

"A lot of people see those races first as spectators," said Kaine. "They are fun; they are fun to watch. Then an awful lot of people will say, 'Gosh, I am going to run next year.' We use them in the office. There is a little group, usually around the (Ukrop's) Monument Avenue 10K. There would be kind of an office challenge: how many people are going to run it? We get a lot of folks from the office to run it. I have had a longstanding competition with my policy director where we have run it three times together and he beat me this year for the first time. So, we kind of have to have a competition going."

For more on Governor Tim Kaine's interview with SBQ, including his family's passion for camping, hiking and canoeing, visit www.sportsbackers.org. A full transcript and recording of the interview are on the Web site's OurSB interactive area.

For this year's Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K Race Report and
last year's SunTrust Richmond Marathon & nTelos 8K Race Report

To find out about this year's race go to the nTelos 8K Web site
The race is scheduled this year for November 15, 2008.