KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Seldom has a conference had such a lean and hungry look.
Runners from around the country are in Kansas City this weekend for the annual convention of the Road Runners Club of America. Virtually all of them are experienced long-distance runners and - unlike the usual convention crowd - there's not a pot belly or cigarette to be found.
Many of them, in fact, became runners to avoid just those problems.
Don Lindley, 47, of Fort Wayne, Ind., started running for health reasons.
"I stopped smoking in 1972," he said. "When I started running three years later, I couldn't run a mile." Five years later he ran his first marathon and since then has run more than 40, including two 100-mile runs.
Lindley works as a payroll manager for a recycling firm and says running provides a way to control job-related stress.
James Walker, 36, a claims manager for an insurance company, came halfway across the Pacific to attend the convention. He is president of the Guam Running Club and started running eight years ago to lose weight.
"I run for fitness and enjoyment, and for some element of competition," he says, after 15 marathons. "It's relaxing."
Bob Hinkle, 61, of Overland Park, Kan., a convention organizer, has been running for 25 years.
"I was overweight, overstressed and doing all the wrong things," he said. "I had a doctor who was ahead of the times - he told me what would happen if I didn't change. Running totally changed my life."
Most of the delegates are over 40, mirroring a trend as the running population ages. And that presents a problem that convention-goers are well aware of - if your children are couch potatoes, they have a lot of company.
"The average age of club members now is 42," said Jane Dolley, 43, national president of the Road Runners Club. "We've got to increase the base of younger runners."
She works for an insurance company in Portland, Maine, and played tennis and skied for recreation before becoming a runner.
"I wanted to do something to stay in shape all year," she said.
But since she became active in club events three years ago, her running has dropped from 60 miles a week with a marathon best of 3:21 to about 20-30 miles a week now.
"This is my priority now," she said.
The convention began Thursday and concludes Sunday with the 18th annual Trinity Hospital Hill Run. The 13.1-mile race is the national championship half-marathon for the group, which represents more than 150,000 runners in 460 local clubs - including six in the Kansas City area.
One of the featured runners this year is former Olympic marathoner Don Kardong, of Spokane, Wash. Kardong is best known for his fourth-place finish in the 1976 Olympic Games marathon, but he also founded the largest timed race in the country - the Bloomsday Race that drew 60,000 runners this year.
Kardong also is concerned about the lack of fitness in children.
"Studies reinforce the notion that kids' fitness is not getting better," he said. "Lots of running clubs are making that a priority, both for the sport and for the country."
Lindley found a unique way to encourage kids to run.
"I just directed a 1-mile fun run for children on a half-mile auto track," he said.
Every runner got a trophy.
"I cleaned out my closet and gave away all my trophies that were just collecting dust," he said.
Copyright 1991 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.