Winter was long, and you're anxious to get your body in motion. The Walk North Dakota program can help you put a spring in your step.
Walk North Dakota is a North Dakota State University Extension Service program to motive people to increase their physical activity no matter how busy they are. It challenges people to walk 200 miles during an eight-week period.
To reach that goal, you'll need to walk about 10,000 steps a day at least five days a week. That's the equivalent of walking five miles a day. To put that into perspective, people take an average of 2,000 to 4,000 steps a day.
The next Walk North Dakota session runs April 10 to June 4.
"Don't worry if you can't manage 10,000 steps a day," says Linda Hauge, Walk North Dakota coordinator. "Walk as many steps as you feel comfortable walking, and keep trying to walk a little more each week."
This is how the program works: Put on a pedometer in the morning and record the number of steps you've taken by the end of the day. Then report those steps every two weeks. If you don't own a pedometer, record one mile or 2,000 steps for every 20 minutes you walk. You'll receive an incentive if you report every two weeks.
You can report your progress online at http://www.walknd.com or on a mail-in postcard.
Join Walk North Dakota as an individual or part of a group. Groups that haven't participated in the program should send an e-mail to info@walknd.com. You don't need to live in North Dakota to participate.
The registration fee is $10 per person for anyone age 19 or older and $5 for youth 18 and younger. North Dakota 4-H'ers and 4-H leaders can participate free of charge.
Go to the Walk North Dakota website at http://www.walknd.com to register. For more information, contact Hauge at (701) 231-7964 or info@walknd.com.
Since the program started in May 2004, 4,114 participants have walked nearly 1.6 billion steps or about 797,943 miles.
