Let’s Go Walking! Join me for a virtual walking support group

Posted by Becky, Volunteer Mentor @becsbuddy, Feb 19, 2020

Many of you living with cancer or an autoimmune disease, like me, deal with daily fatigue. You know that exercise is so important to your health, but it’s so hard. There’s always an excuse: it’s too cold or hot, it’s going to rain or it’s raining, or it’s snowy and icy, or I just don’t want to. I, too, have all these excuses, but I have a new rescue dog who wants to go out and who doesn’t care about my excuses! And I’ve got traction devices for my boots.Now I just need a walking group who will keep me accountable. People who say, ‘let’s go for a walk.'

And I thought: What about my virtual friends on MayoClinicConnect?

Mayo Clinic has an easy 12-week walking program to get us started! Here’s the link:
- Get walking with this 12-week walking schedule https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/get-walking-with-this-12-week-walking-schedule/

So let’s form a virtual walking group. We can agree to walk every day and encourage each other through Connect. We can walk outdoors, in a mall, or in the red center, or in the hallways of our apartment building.

Who’s in? Who’s going to join me?

Come on, Let’s Go Walking!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Just Want to Talk Support Group.

@ess77

@becsbuddy, @sueinmn, @gingerw and all....I've never scheduled of planned walking. Important concept, planning the day, for pain control in whole body/brain, so...We go from the low 70's to high 80's overnight and back. I plan to go out tomorrow to PT and a few errands to FedEx, so tomorrow may be not a walk day much. But, Sat will begin a day outside with my hot pink walker, if only for a short walk around the cul-de-sac...we'll see if that can be a beginning of some scheduled walking. To ck out the cypress tree and see if a nest is in sight!
Thanks, everyone for the great suggestions and support. What a real blessing. Elizabeth

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Elizabeth - I find planning my walking into my day makes sure it gets done. For example, this morning I will start a load of laundry, then join my friend for a walk through our bird sanctuary. Some of my walks are very short - it all depends on my breathing. And I learned the hard way last summer to do my therapy (stretching) before I go - had to stop halfway one day and do it on a neighbor's bird-watching bench...
I can tell exactly which days I skip walking at all, I feel fidgety in the evening and don't sleep as well.
Sue

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@becsbuddy

WALKERS/EXERCISERS! Do you have any goals for walking this summer? I’ve even thought of going into Boulder and walking around downtown and neighborhood streets. Maybe I’ll try just once a week. I’ll report on how it goes.
What are you going to try?

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@becsbuddy, At recent pulmon. visit, she said the best thing I could do for lungs is " to walk 3 x's/week for a min. of 20 mins". I started laughing and told her of my self-challenge to do that very thing for 2020. She smiled at that and then as she was ending the apptmn't said: "whatever you are doing, keep doing it". Your lung scan and breathing reports are better this time than the time beflore! Wow! I'm still basking in that report.

However, most of current and next seasons will find me doing yard work as wind, heat and weather permit. I do plan to continue new location walks in more public areas. Having both Covid vaccs has given me more courage to be among more unmasked people here.

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@gingerw

@becsbuddy My goal is simple. To walk without a cane. Since January I have had very limited movement due to new issues, but still try to get out to walk. A slow turtle can beat me. Additional PT and procedures in near future. But going slow, I get to "really" see the neat things there are to see.
Ginger

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Ginger - Turtle pace is great, as you say, for really seeing what is out there. I have always been a Type-A walker, reluctant to slow down, but health issues and the desire to walk with husband and friends whose abilities differ has led me to appreciate the time to stop and notice. So now I have days when I walk to see the world thoroughly and days when I WALK for exercise - used to run, but alas, no more.

Sue

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@jakedduck1

Now your going nuts about a pine tree. I guess we all are nuts about something. I go nuts over my duckie friends.
Take care,
Jake

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@jakedduck1, And did you forget to mention all things chocolate??? Smiles!

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@jude07

I have now taken to my frontage road as my favorite walkway, it’s flat and I can travel up and down it with one boot/shoe and my other foot laced into a tennis shoe. Ready for some sunshine and more healing so I can take a more leisurely walk, I know patience is not my best quality.
Happy walking today to all of you!!

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Good morning all!!
Grey outside however I will do my best to make the sun shine internally as I do my Red Carpet runway of frontage road today.
Keeping you all in thought for a great weekend.

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@becsbuddy

WALKERS/EXERCISERS! Do you have any goals for walking this summer? I’ve even thought of going into Boulder and walking around downtown and neighborhood streets. Maybe I’ll try just once a week. I’ll report on how it goes.
What are you going to try?

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@becsbuddy
Well for starters I'm going to try and get out of my recliner. No promises beyond that.
My Mom's therapist said any movement is better than no movement so maybe I'll reach for some candy, Reese's on the left & snickers on my right, decisions decisions.
Happy trails all,
Jake

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@jakedduck1

Howdy doody Artist,
You have been missed for sure. Don’t you have anywhere better to spend your time than in the hospital?
I hope they were just giving you an overhaul so you’d be in good shape for my 108th birthday.
You’ll be walking the happy trails again soon but for now “it is what it is” right?
You take care of yourself now and that’s an order,
Jake

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@jakedduck1 Aaaww, Jake, so good to hear from you! No, it wasn't just an overhaul and they pretty much shut down all my electrolytes, etc., and everything else, with their !@#%*! preps, (3) etc. The doc says It's going to take a few weeks to find my sea legs again. Like we all say, it is what it is. But I'll be on top of it again soon, and certainly ready for your 108th birthday!!

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@ess77

oh, my, @artist01 Glad you're back home and thinking good thoughts sending your way.....but, what for crying out loud are lodgepole pines? I know long-leaf pines, cypress pines, spruce and the lovely norfalk island pine, white pine, ponderosa pine, eastern white pine, scotch pine, and I'm sure hundreds more.....but lodgepole pine is new to me. It must be a rocky, nothwestern pine, maybe?

I ckd on Bing, it's a beauty. Tall, lovely and I imagine a mass of them is beautiful. Ok. I'm getting out of my little bubble and learning so much from all of you living in the far wilds of America. Love it.

Now, you feel better, do well and feel the blessings flowing down onto and into your body, healing every cell! elizabeth

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@ess77 Hi Elizabeth! Thankyou for that bolstering message, which I'm replying to you from the wilds of Canada! Yes, if it were not for lodgepole pines, so straight, strong and tall, we would not have telephone poles. Lol.
I'll attempt to post a photo, taken from my hospital window.
X0 Laurie

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@becsbuddy

Welcome back @artist01 You’ve been in the hospital? Hope all is ok. I haven’t been walking as much, either. Between snow, ice and cold and my headaches, it’s been hard to get out. But I had 2 nice walks today. Sidewalks were clear and the sun was sort of shining. I’ve found that I really need walks to feel better and to keep my spirits up!
Do you have any spring/summer walking goals?

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@becsbuddy Hi Becky. Thankyou for the welcome back. I really missed all of you.
Yep, I do have a goal...my goal for now is to be able to stand up for more than 10 minutes without blacking out! I did a fair bit of blacking out in the hospital and even since being home. Such a wimp. My doc keeps saying, One day at a time. Can't wait to get back to my mile-a-day walking regime! SOON! Stay well, Becky. X0 Laurie

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@ess77

@becsbuddy, @sueinmn, @gingerw and all....I've never scheduled of planned walking. Important concept, planning the day, for pain control in whole body/brain, so...We go from the low 70's to high 80's overnight and back. I plan to go out tomorrow to PT and a few errands to FedEx, so tomorrow may be not a walk day much. But, Sat will begin a day outside with my hot pink walker, if only for a short walk around the cul-de-sac...we'll see if that can be a beginning of some scheduled walking. To ck out the cypress tree and see if a nest is in sight!
Thanks, everyone for the great suggestions and support. What a real blessing. Elizabeth

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@ess77 Yaaay for the hot pink walker, Elizabeth! You GO, girl!

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