If ever there was a time to get outdoors and burn off pent up energy, this is it. After a year of COVID-19, a tumultuous election and last month’s brutal cold snap, the timing for the 2021 Walk Kansas program couldn’t be better.
The eight-week program starts March 28, and this year focuses on how physical activity and healthy eating can help us prevent, delay, and manage chronic health challenges. They include mental health problems, heart disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s and brain health, obesity, arthritis, diabetes and cancer.
This year you can participate in the traditional team format or individually, the choice is yours. Though teams and individuals don’t actually walk across the state, the goal is to be physically active in your neighborhoods or communities an equivalent distance to walking across Kansas. Plus learn virtually about the state along the way.
Teams are made up of four to six people with one person serving as the captain. Team members record their own physical activity- walking, bicycling, gardening or other activity- online weekly. Participants do not have to walk together or even live in Kansas.
Each team chooses one of three challenges when registering. Challenge 1 sets a minimum guideline of 30 minutes of exercise five days a week and takes a team on a virtual tour of the 8 Wonders of Kansas. Challenge 2 and 3 increase the number of minutes of exercise by each participant. Participants who choose to register as an individual will select the Purple Power Trail, which begins on the Kansas State University campus, and determine their own goal.
Participants will receive a newsletter filled with recipes, activity and nutrition tips about ‘Moving Your Way’ and ‘Make Every Bite Count’ plus mini-webinars. Youth will receive a 12345Fit-Tastic newsletter to learn about five healthy habits, physical activity challenges, a brain games, and recipes, too.
The fee is $10 per person. The fee is waived for youth K-12 and HealthQuest program participants for 4 credits, contact me for details.
Take the first step, register for Walk Kansas. Online registration is available at walkkansas.org. Registration packet available at your local extension office in Erie, Fort Scott, Iola, and Yates Center or download at https://www.southwind.k-state.edu/walk-kansas. If you have questions or need assistance, contact me at 620-223-3720 or [email protected].
