The half-mile trail, which circles the UF Law campus, was officially dedicated on Friday with Dean Robert Jerry offering a few remarks, followed by Professor Lyrissa Lidsky’s running club making the inaugural lap around the trail in the brisk afternoon air.

“The trail is a great way to promote fitness at the law school,” Jerry said. “I hope this group will continue to grow when we walk around out here in the future.”

Jerry also announced that UF Law will be creating a fitness Web page that will provide information about the walking trail as well as other fitness options available around the University of Florida campus.

“This is also a great opportunity for us to think about another initiative we will probably roll out here at the law school: the study of walking trail law,” the dean added jokingly. He continued to cite actual legal cases that involve walking trails and one involving the “sub-specialty” of fitness trails.

Lidsky took a moment to say that she was glad the running club was able to help inaugurate the trail, before the group set off with Jerry for the first official lap around the campus.

The inspiration for the walking trail developed last summer when Professor Leonard Riskin had the idea to promote healthy lifestyles on campus by creating a fitness walk on the third floor of Holland Hall, said Jerry. But after further discussions, they decided it would be more interesting to create the trail outside.

The new trail begins at the northwest corner of the Advocacy Center, moving between Bruton-Geer Hall before turning north to Southwest 2nd Ave. Following Southwest 2nd Ave., the trail turns south at Village Drive before coming back to the starting point at the Advocacy Center. The path was accurately measured and plotted out by Facilities Manager Robert Horn, and his staff painted distance markers every 0.05 miles with arrows along the way to keep people on the trail, said Debra Staats, associate dean for administrative and fiscal affairs.

“I hope the law school community takes advantage of this easy and convenient way to get in some exercise on our campus,” Staats said. “I myself plan to bring in my walking shoes and try to get moving more.”

Professor Lyrissa Lidsky speaks in front of a crowd of 10,000 at a Michelle Obama speech on Oct. 22. (UF Law/Chen Wang)

Professor Lyrissa C. Barnett Lidsky spoke Wednesday to the largest group she’s ever spoken to—a crowd of over 10,000 people.

Lidsky was one of many local citizens to warm up the crowd for Michelle Obama, presidential candidate Barack Obama’s wife. The event took place at the Hippodrome as part of the Obama campaign’s “Early Vote for Change” tour.

“I am so proud to be here today and to be part of this historic moment,” Lidsky said at the rally. “I’m so glad to see all of you because I know that you want to make your voice heard in this election and you’re going to do it.”

Lidsky and local attorney Cherie Fine are heading Alachua County’s voter protection team for the Obama campaign. Lidsky and Fine have over 100 volunteers in Alachua County to make sure that every vote counts. There will be someone from the team at almost every polling place in the county to ensure things run smoothly. There is also a member of the voter protection team at each of the three early voting locations in the county.

The Obama campaign is assembling voter protection teams all across the country in battleground states. John McCain’s campaign is allowed to have someone at the polls also, Lidsky said. Both candidates have sections of their Web sites for people to volunteer monitoring the election.

Lidsky encouraged voters to go to a member of the team if they had any problem voting.

In her speech, Lidsky told the crowd how easy it was to vote and dispelled some common voting myths.

In Florida, you can wear candidate paraphernalia to the polls despite Internet rumors saying you cannot vote if you do.

“You may have heard some rumors telling you that voting is hard,” Lidsky said at the rally. “I’m here to tell you that voting is easy.”