New Iberia has two park and recreation centers that provide resources and recreation to all ages. I talked to Heather Dominique, assistant superintendent of Parks and Recreation for the city of New Iberia. I wanted to know about the success of the walking and running trails at both parks.  

She estimates that in excess of 200 people a day make use of City Park trails and  around  50 plus at West End.

I’ve walked both trails. I walked with Margaret Ford and Richard Ozenne at West End. Richard heads LOVE, an organization that collects and distributes money for school supplies and uniforms for kids in need at Iberia Parish schools. The group meets at West End Center. I completed the West End trail in record time by slowly walking behind my companions and detouring on to a shorter route.

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West End has a treadmill. It’s easy to cheat that, too.

Margaret decided it would be easier to get me to City Park for my morning crawl to drag me off my couch and into the car, then get me out, stand me up and command, “WALK!”  It’s closer.  She has an ally in Athenna Fage, better known as Nina. I crawl. I won’t go any faster, so they increase the mileage.  Margaret walks five miles in the mornings and then accompanies me in the afternoons. She gave up candy for Lent, but she could have offered up assisting me on my crawl as her penance.

Bridget Boutte runs five miles a day in City Park. She has done this for 15 years for sheer enjoyment.

As our trio crawls around the track once, Bridget has been around four times. As she whizzes past us, she holds up four fingers, then turns her head slightly and grins at us.  

Bridget shared knowledge about the effects of running on the female anatomy. She cautions that contrary to Fitness magazine, you won’t lose your cellulite. Margaret tells us that you have to add working out to your program to accomplish this. Working out? What is that?

Earlier this month I was forced by the guards on my chain gang to complete a two-mile crawl. Neither the violent shoving nor the sound of the whips cracking could make me go faster than a snail. I thought I spotted my car in the distance or was it a mirage? The vision I saw next was not a mirage. It was very real, like a vision from heaven. It was my classmate from Mount Carmel, Goldie Bujard Cestia. She stopped to say hello. That pause is what saved me from dropping to the pavement and passing out from exhaustion. One never knows when God will call us on a mission of mercy. Goldie answered the call. She must have been making a good Lent. It wasn’t me. I figured I wasn’t dead. It was like Dr. Frankenstein in the movies. People were screaming, “It’s alive. It’s alive.”

Heather wants to introduce us to water aerobics. Walking in the park is only the beginning. Stay tuned. Sooner or later I will not survive my near death experiences. I certainly don’t want to go around “The Trail of Tears” for 15 years. I bequeath my place to Bridget. She’ll have fun.

NANCY PEARCE is a resident of New Iberia and a former contributor to a liturgical guide for priests. Many of her features appeared in a major national publication for teenagers.