BEST CITIES IN THE U.S. FOR WALKING?

Prevention Magazine has listed their choices for the top walking cities in the U.S.

Portland, OR ranked as #1.

St. Louis, MO (my fair city) ranked #60.

Good thing I don't pay any attention to such articles! LOL!

Their poll focused on Podiatrists who weighed in on the number of patients who walked the most. Portland is no surprise. The weather is agreeable most of the time - neither too hot nor too cold and I believe they have a fairly good mass transit system.

St. Louis has weather that is too hot or too cold - really! And, our mass transit system which would encourage many to walk at least to their transit stops and from one stop to another is almost nonexistent. Further, the local transit system is being cut back! We are forced to rely on individual automobiles to get to and from work and to run most errands and family business. This is unfortunate, to say the least.

Now, back to the poll. Podiatrists??? Of course, the more people who walk, the more will seek the expertise of so-called walking specialists - for foot care and shoe selection. I've discussed those items with my podiatrist while he was removing a very painful corn from my right foot. I was assured the corn wouldn't return if I wore the proper shoe. He recommended New Balance or Merrell. Ya'll know I wear NB shoes. Love 'em. They're worth every cent. However, I'm going to try a pair of Merrell's too.

So, what other factors go into make a city 'walkable'? Safe paths, good weather, respect for pedestrians, parks, transit opportunities.

What factors deter us from walking? Oh, so many things! Let's begin with school buses which teach our kids that walking is dangerous and inconvenient. Don't get me started on the subject of school budgets and busing! Other deterrents in the environment - weather has to be the greatest deterrent. Unsafe neighborhoods. Dogs off leashes. Hills. No sidewalks. Lack of walking trails and/or parks. Easy to pick out some of these factors. But, the NUMBER ONE deterrent is our own laziness and failure to make our health a priority.

So, wherever you live, you can find a place to walk. At the mall, at a local track, at the gym, in my living room. I'll walk almost anywhere. Just let me get my shoes on........



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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

CUMBERLAND VALLEY P.O.V.

Guest Columnist, my friend Willa from Pennsylvania, has written the following few paragraphs about the area where she lives. She's a very talented woman and I believe you'll appreciate her 'ramblings'.

Note: This area of Pennsylvania is inhabited by many Amish who are referred to as 'Plain' people.
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Here in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania, we are surrounded by wonderful places to walk. I live less than 15 miles from the midpoint of the Appalachian Trail, and about that far from 5 different state parks, each with trails winding through the mountains. My favorite place to walk, though, is the Cumberland Valley Rails to Trails, which begins right next to our equally phenomenal dog park.

The easily accessible trail runs through rural farmland abounding with wildlife and domestic stock. During one walk we were astounded to watch a dairy cow giving birth just a few yards from us. On another walk, we were passed by some Plain children riding in a pony cart. Walkers, runners, bicyclists and people on horseback use the trail, and many parts of it are handicap accessible. If you are planning a trip to the Cumberland Valley area, Shippensburg lies midway between Hagerstown, MD and Harrisburg PA, on I-81, and is only a handful of miles from the Civil War battlefields at Gettysburg and Antietam.
This description of the trail is from the official website: http://www.cvrtc.org/About.htm
"Once a stretch of railroad tracks, the 11-mile Cumberland Valley Trail, from Shippensburg to Newville, in Cumberland County was donated to CVRTC by Conrail in 1995.

CVRTC has spent the last 11 years developing the former Cumberland Valley Railroad into an improved multi-use trail to serve all ages and abilities. The first 4 1/2 miles of trail was completed in the fall of 2004 and the next 5 miles was complete in the fall of 2006. The trail is now complete from the Shippensburg Township Park outside of Shippensburg to McFarland Street in Newville, approx 9.5 miles. Parking is available to the Shippensburg Township Park, Oakville and Newville with restrooms at the Shippensburg Township Park and Newville

Trail enthusiasts can enjoy walking, jogging, bicycling, horseback riding and other non-motorized recreational uses. The trail, which is wheelchair-accessible, has a crushed limestone surface except for the last 1/2 mile at the Newville trail head which is paved. All of the road crossings between these two points have been graded to meet ADA specification and paved if it is a long grade. Their are two missing bridges that limit access to 1 mile of trail at the Shippensburg end and 1/2 mile at the Newville end. We hope to arrange funding for the bridges and to finish the last 1 1/2 miles, but nothing is in place at this time.

Trail users will appreciate a variety of settings as the trail traverses wooded areas and farmland between the historic towns of Shippensburg and Newville. A shaded picnic area in the village of Oakville provides a pleasant rest stop along the way."

You can find lovely photos here: http://www.cvrtc.org/PhotoGallery.htm

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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

PUT SOME BOUNCE IN YOUR STEP

Wanna' speed up your walk? Wanna' change your pace? Wanna' spice things up?

Put some BOUNCE in your step.

Walk to music. Put some Disco in your ears and you'll move faster.

Another idea - have you seen those 'personal' sized trampolines? You can find them at sporting goods stores or at garage sales. They're not terribly expensive.

If you want to rev things up, you can walk on the small trampoline. When I first started on my present 'walk' journey, I had a mini-trampoline in my basement. Every evening after the kids were put to bed, I would lace on my shoes and head down stairs. I'd put some BeeGees on the boombox (yep, it was that long ago) and bounce along to the music. Before I even knew it, I had worked myself up from two minutes to THIRTY minutes of brisk walking, bouncing all the way.

It was great fun! I love disco, salsa, whatever you want to call that style of up-tempo music. Happy music. Now, with ipods and MP3 players, it's far easier to create a playlist that gives you a persistent beat for as long as you want. You can even 'program' it so that you have a warm up song and a cool down song with as long a playlist between that you want.

You might even find yourself doing a bit more than walking on the trampoline. It's a really short trip from march to jog on a trampoline if your knees allow it. But, if you only walk, you'll find that the trampoline gives you a really good workout without changing anything else you do.


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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

LOCAL INTEREST

I'm going to write about a few local locations where I love to walk. Since not everyone lives in the St. Louis area, it would be GREAT if readers would write a few words (or more) about their favorite places to walk. If you'd like to write a guest column, just let me know. Will gladly turn over the reigns to another for a blog or two.

Here's my first entry:

Imagine a small lake filled with sail boats and kayaks, paved trails that circle the lake and wind through grasslands, woods, and lakeside, and lots of people on bikes, skates, and foot all within a few minutes of home! This is a walker’s dream - Creve Coeur Lake.

There is always someone or something of interest to maintain one’s attention at this site. Other walkers, skaters and bikers abound, of course. Depending on the weather, there are also strollers, fields of organized sport teams, sand volleyball, picnickers, the occasional wedding reception or the more frequent family reunion or office picnic. Frisbee players, sunbathers, pops and kids fishing, dogs on leashes, lots of people-watching. This lovely lake draws droves of singles, couples on dates, young families, and seniors too.

The single, paved trail is wide and is clearly marked for distance and, at the busiest end of the lake, there are restrooms, a drinking fountain, and even a shower to get the sand off your feet or dunk yourself for a refreshing cool-off after a good walk.

This conveniently located park is a true gem for the walker. Power walk or take a leisurely stroll but put your shoes on and walk!

Park Specs: 2348 Creve Coeur Mill Rd in Maryland, Heights.
3.7 mile Lake View Loop
2.8 mile Meadow Loop
5.4 miles of Connector Loops
Home to St. Louis Sculling Club





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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

WRITE FOR YOU

If you want to know if something has been right for you - write for you. That is, journal a few lines about your day so you can look back on it if you have another similar day to see if a pattern emerges. If you've had a bad day at work and you walk for 30 minutes after work and you feel better - write a few lines about that. Then, the next time you have a bad day at work, open your journal and find out when you last wrote to yourself about having a bad day and how you resolved that. There you'll find motivation.

Another way is to write ahead for yourself. Write yourself some note cards with things you enjoy doing and how long they take. Walking - 20 minutes (or 5 minutes or however long is your average). Listening to music - 15 minutes. Going for a drive - 30 minutes. Shopping or Window Shopping - 1 hour (you gotta walk while shopping!!). Talking on the phone with a friend - 20 minutes. Reading - 1 hour. Whatever.

Now, you have your own deck of HAPPY CARDS. Shuffle them and DO THE THING YOU PULL OUT. Unless it's 3 Am and you know your friend doesn't want a phone call then!

Write for you. Nobody else ever gets to read it.



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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

GET A PLAN

Making a commitment to walk or exercise of any kind is easier if you have a plan. What makes a plan? Here's what you need:

A body with feet
Some comfy shoes and socks
A place
A time

The HARD PART is the time. But, that's the thing you have the most power over because you can be flexible.

PUT IT ON A POST IT NOTE ON THE COFFEEMAKER.
PUT IT ON A POST IT NOTE ON THE REFRIGERATOR DOOR.
WRITE IT IN LIPSTICK ON YOUR BATHROOM MIRROR. ok, don't do this. it leaves a mess.

PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR.
WRITE IT IN YOUR APPOINTMENT BOOK.
LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT YOU WALK FROM ____ to ____ (NO MATTER WHAT!)
Then - PLEASE do it.

Then, write a comment or two on this blog. Let us know what you're doing. Your words may well inspire others to pick up their feet and move.




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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

SOLUTIONS & IDEAS

Like every human being, I have problems. Sometimes there are things that keep my mind in a whirl - when I can't calm my mind or determine what I should do in a particular situation. You know the old expression, "sleep on it" when one is trying to work out a dilemma.

I have found that my mind solves a lot of problems when I'm walking and not even consciously thinking about solutions. While my mind is occupied with the music I'm listening to and the path I'm walking, some other part of my brain is winding its way through the dilemma. Often, a short time after I return from a walk, I 'suddenly' know the 'right' answer to my problem.

This goes for getting ideas too! When I was approaching a landmark birthday some months ago, I had been thinking about how some of my friends celebrated their birthdays. One paid for her kids and grandkids to join her and her husband at a condo on Maui. Another took a cruise. Kathy G held herself a birthday bash at a community center with good food and the music of our generation. Lots of fun ideas, but none suited me.

One day while I was walking, I got the great idea to ask my friends to create a scrapbook for me. I became really excited about how this might turn out. I scoured the craft stores and the internet for scrapbook pages, made a list of women who had been important in my life over the past 10 or so years, worked up a cover letter explaining my request for each woman to put on paper, in her own way, how our life paths had crossed. I mailed out my scrapbook sheets and cover letters several weeks before my birthday. I didn't really give everyone enough time but I was excited about receiving the scrapbook pages whenever they arrived.

Only a few pages arrived in time for my birthday. But, they were wonderful. Over the next few weeks and, now, months, more have arrived. Crafting isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some people took this as a very serious task and wanted to get it just right. Others took a more relaxed approach and decided to have fun with it. If I had written down a list of what I expected next to each woman's name, my batting average would have been pretty good.

The pages are all wonderful. Each is unique. Each is a perfect reflection of the relationship I have with the woman who created it. There are words and pictures about our children, our hobbies, our milestones, our loves, our shared experiences. How cool is that? I'll have these forever. At some point, I'll try to get all these women together so everyone can see all the pages. It's not a competition - some are lavish while others are fairly sparse. But, they are just perfect. And, it was the perfect gift for my birthday as I didn't want a big party, a lavish trip, or expensive gifts. I never take a camera anywhere with me and my friends do. Now, I have their photos AND their take on all the events we've shared.

So, walk and give your mind time to process what you've been doing. Walk and let your mind and body synchronize so that you can live your best life. It really works!


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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

GOT $$ ?

One of the things I appreciate about walking is that it's almost free. Except for a good pair of shoes (and some nice socks for me), one can walk anywhere at any time for free.

However, do you know there are companies out there that want to make a buck off us? Of course you do. They advertise their shoes all the time. Of course, those are RUNNING shoes they're pushing - but they make walking shoes too.

Of course, there are treadmills that walkers can use as well as joggers. Pedometers are nice additions to your wardrobe if you want to pace yourself. Body Mass Indicators are just cruel! Really.





Now comes the GPS people. You know. Those things in new cars that tell you to turn left at the next stop and so forth to find your destination. Garmin is one of the big names in that field. Garmin has figured out how to put a GPS on your wrist. To track your walk (well, they say 'run'). This is how it works. For the (gulp) princely sum of from about $100 to about $300, you can purchase a device that looks like a wrist watch. Never mind the GPS that's already in your cell phone. You can't locate yourself or track your progress with that one. This GPS is designed just for exercise.

On the low end, the Garmin device will monitor your heart rate and your pace. On the higher end, this little device will report this and more to your home computer so you can keep track of where you've trod and how fast - with your heart rate monitored, of course.

I much prefer my wrist watch or the clock on my cell phone to determine how far I've walked and I don't need a GPS to find my way around my neighborhood or the mall. But, if you're a dedicated walker or jogger and travel a lot, it MIGHT be worth looking into.

Go to www.garmin.com to check it out.


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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

WALKAWAY - I'm in LOVE!!

If you have a Valentine who loves to walk, you might want to look into this nifty device. OR you might want to get one for yourself! It's the best thing to happen to a walker's ears since Ipod. I promise!




http://store.playawaydigital.com/

I rent mine from the library. I learned about the device only recently and RAN to the library to discover more about it. I usually like to listen to music while I walk, feeling that the beat of the music will keep my pace up.

This device is lightweight, about the size of a small cell phone. It has a strap just right to wear around your neck. Further, the jostling of your stride doesn't make it skip like a CD player does. Each Playaway has an entire book, up to 80 hours of listening! The ones you buy come with earbuds. The ones I get from the library require me to have my own earbuds. No big deal.

So, the first day I had the 'Playaway', as it's called at my library, I decided to take it for a test walk. I learned quickly that I could keep up a good pace without the backbeat of salsa music. I'm listening to a John Grisham book that I find quite engaging.

I'm headed back to the library to get some more. Right now, the selection is not deep. But, I'm betting that this thing is going to 'take off' as it's a self-contained, digital device that requires nothing of the user except to plug in some earphones (my Ipod earbuds) which can be had at the Dollar Store if you don't already own a pair.

I also saw a sign at my library about free MP3 downloads. Will look into that and blog about it as soon as I find out more. Can it get much better than this?? Free earcandy!

Go buy or rent one for yourself or your Sweetie!




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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

STROLLER THERAPY

I remember the days I felt stuck at home with toddlers. It was a BIG DEAL for me to be able to get three kids out of the house for anything other than carpool. Some days I was just overwhelmed.

There were days, especially after a few days of really bad weather, when the cabin fever would grip us all and we'd flee to the closest McDonald's to let the kids run around. This was in the days before most of them had indoor playgrounds.

When I had only one child, I would put him in the baby carrier facing out from my chest and zip up the coat I wore while pregnant to right under his little chin. Some vaseline on his rosy cheeks, warm clothes, and a fuzzy cap on his head and mine and we were out the door to explore the neighborhood. We lived in an apartment complex. There were 3 other moms and 5 kids between us. We often put the kids in strollers and walked for about an hour. Walking and talking. Boy, did I lose that baby weight fast.

Flash forward several years when I had two babies in 16 months while pushing age 40 and things had changed a lot. I never lost the weight, had no energy, didn't sleep well (who does with two croupy babies in the house??), and did exercise of no kind except run around all day after two active kids and drive the unrelenting carpool for their big brother.

I had fallen in love with racquetball when my eldest child was less than a year old. Off we went to the club every morning, him to the nursery, and me to have an 'adult' conversation and a couple matches of racquetball. I loved those days. But, as racquetball waned in popularity, the clubs stopped offering child care. I then had to find someone to take care of my two toddlers while I played. Thank GOD for MDO (Mother's Day Out)!

I played racquetball as many days each week - for as many hours - as I could. It was great! The kids were happy and I (not a morning person) looked forward to every morning I could hit that ball around.

Sadly, for all the ball I played, I never lost a single pound after having those two little ones. Playing that much racquetball with that much extra weight on my frame ruined my knees. I had to give up my beloved racquetball when I was about 45 years old. I just walked off the court one day and called my beloved orthopedist and left a message for him that said one word. UNCLE. He got it!

So, everyone I knew walked. I began walking. I lost 65 pounds. THAT'S SIXTY FIVE POUNDS! What!!!! I thought racquetball was good exercise. It is - but it's not sustained enough even at the competitive level I played to give the body the metabolic edge that walking or biking gives it. Lesson Learned!



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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

NEWSFLASH - KIDS NEED RECESS!!

In the February 3, 2009 issue of the New York Times Health Section, there's a tiny article entitled "Recess Found to Improve Behavior". Duh! The author, Tara Parker-Pope reveals the groundbreaking information that misbehaving school children are often deprived of recess when 'new research' shows that recess actually helps curtail bad behavior!

I'm astounded. Do you think they ever bothered to ask a parent or kid, or for that matter, a teacher if this was true? Wonder how much of our tax money went to 'prove' this revelation?

Kids need to move. All of us do. We actually don't preform any task very well if we're confined to one place for very long - especially when we're young and full of energy.

Maybe the mental midget who piloted this study needs to take a walk and energize some of his/her brain cells so that the overstatement of the obvious wouldn't be so underwhelming.

Now that recess has been banned in many public schools and the research confirms that one in three children receive fewer than 15 minutes of daily exercise, school boards will rethink the buildings currently being designed with little or no open space for physical activities.

Oh, and since Tag is also banned in a lot of schools, we must never, never let the kids actually RUN. No telling how much trouble that might cause. A kid might actually fall and scrape a knee.

Don't you wonder how all of us who are over age 18 managed to survive the playgrounds of our childhood. No gym class, no P.E., no recess, no tag. Why not NO SITTING IN FRONT OF THE TV WITH A BOWL OF CHIPS AND THE REMOTE?? Now, that would really blow the minds of those who fund these ridiculous 'studies'.


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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

WALKING AND TALKING

I'm lucky to have a nice 'pool' of friends who enjoy walking, who live near enough so that we can get together, and who are fairly dedicated to walking. I've pushed myself to maintain a greater degree of accountability with my walks, so I've added a couple of pre-arranged walks. To my usual weekly routine of walking with Sally on Thursday and Saturday or Sunday (some weekends, both), linedancing (just another form of walking) Sunday evening and Wednesday, I've now added Laurie on Tuesday evenings and Stephanie on Monday evenings. Other days, Kathy G. and I are able to walk during the day if the weather and our schedules permit.

So, happy day! Some days I walk more than once! Some Thursdays, both walk AND dance, if I don't dance on Wednesday. That gives me ONLY Friday's off - and I'll walk then if the weather is great of someone asks!

Having a walking buddy also increases the intensity of the walk. Why? Because, you gotta talk while you're walking. Makes it a better aerobic workout. Further, we're more likely to walk farther or longer if we have a walking buddy. Try it! Ask your friends. Find a common meeting place - outside in good weather, a mall or Big Box store in bad weather. Walk in place if you have to. Join the Y or other gym and walk on the track. But, WALK! Don't give up. It gets easier and more fun.

If you start only walking a few minutes at a time, that's okay. I know it's hard to think of driving somewhere that takes you 20 minutes to get there only to walk for 10 minutes. But, DO IT - because in a couple weeks, you'll be increasing your walking time and intensity. And, you'll FEEL so good.


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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.