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.

@loll

I want to walk more! I tried a zoom walking program this summer but the schedule didn’t work for me at all and added stress. That tells me I need flexibility in my approach. I’m fortunate to have indoor hallways to walk in plus outdoor sidewalks.
I walk some every day but want to build walking strength. I have an ankle, hip, and knee replacement, and osteoarthritis, all of which slow me down at times. I need to consider my goals and consider how to be more consistent with walking.

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Good for you. Any and all walking are great, and every little bit counts - it doesn't need to be 30 minutes at a time.
My Mom had your whole list of issues but was determined to stay active. Also, pain kept her form walking 30 minutes at a time, so here is what she did -
After breakfast, she walked the length of her apartment building hallway (about a block).
Before lunch if the weather was nice, she and a friend would walk around their block together.
If she wasn't going out that day, she would repeat her hallway walk once or twice more.
On grocery day (with my sister or me) she would use the grocery cart to walk up and down as many aisles as she could.
This got her at least a mile and a half of walking, a little bit at a time.

Often my life "tips over" because of pain/fatigue, and on those days I have been known to just walk around my little cul de sac three or four times. Today my walking will be limited to yard chores, and a few hours this evening staffing a booth at a community festival. I bet by then end of the day I will have walked 2 miles - I'll let you know.

Sue

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@loll

I want to walk more! I tried a zoom walking program this summer but the schedule didn’t work for me at all and added stress. That tells me I need flexibility in my approach. I’m fortunate to have indoor hallways to walk in plus outdoor sidewalks.
I walk some every day but want to build walking strength. I have an ankle, hip, and knee replacement, and osteoarthritis, all of which slow me down at times. I need to consider my goals and consider how to be more consistent with walking.

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@loll you’re off to a good start! I wonder if several short sessions with physical therapy would help you get started. They would help you strengthen your muscles and make sure you are treating your joints correctly.
Can you call your doctor today for a referral to PT?

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Good morning to all you “wacky walkers!” I’ve set a plan for myself to walk more than 4000 steps on my morning walk. Success today! But first, i had to take the dog for a walk, and then we met my friend with 4 Bassett hounds, then another friend with her 2 dogs came along so my walk was delayed. I could go earlier but that means getting up earlier. ;-/.
Let’s share what/who we see and do on our walks!

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@becsbuddy

@loll you’re off to a good start! I wonder if several short sessions with physical therapy would help you get started. They would help you strengthen your muscles and make sure you are treating your joints correctly.
Can you call your doctor today for a referral to PT?

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Thank you, yes, I go to PT and it helps

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I walked out to my garden and beyond this morning. It was fun to see a whirligig zinnea in bloom, finally. Deer had eaten most of the seedlings in late May, but this one survived. Now I have a lovely small zinnia bouquet on my kitchen counter.

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@becsbuddy

Good morning to all you “wacky walkers!” I’ve set a plan for myself to walk more than 4000 steps on my morning walk. Success today! But first, i had to take the dog for a walk, and then we met my friend with 4 Bassett hounds, then another friend with her 2 dogs came along so my walk was delayed. I could go earlier but that means getting up earlier. ;-/.
Let’s share what/who we see and do on our walks!

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@becsbuddy

Walking the dog counts as walking......it really does.....putting the garbage out counts as walking...walking down to the mailbox counts....anytime your feet are moving in some direction for whatever purpose....you are walking!

FL Mary

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@loll

I want to walk more! I tried a zoom walking program this summer but the schedule didn’t work for me at all and added stress. That tells me I need flexibility in my approach. I’m fortunate to have indoor hallways to walk in plus outdoor sidewalks.
I walk some every day but want to build walking strength. I have an ankle, hip, and knee replacement, and osteoarthritis, all of which slow me down at times. I need to consider my goals and consider how to be more consistent with walking.

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This is what I've done pretty much all my life: Reach often maximal limit for the fun of it -- finding u can do do all 13 floors in the building in a 80 yr old frame I feel no regrets -- but I probably wouldn't if mishaps in life prevented me. What matters t o me is whether I am in Good Enough shape to carry out the purpose I've in my life. A purpose beyond being super fit -- or super cool or famous or whatever. It's my life purpose that dictates for me that I stay in 'reasonably' for my LIFE aims in good health and fitness. It is this that gets me 'moving' when one kind of activity closes its doors and I almost always find out another: Rainy all day? Walk around carpet, do air soccer kicks hard enough that my other foot goes a bit in the air (truly, my heart beat goes up quickly) Often doing dips in stairwell come handy, even pulling body up off top rails. No One has wrote or told me; our mind seems to work when there is desire - certainly in my case. Hope you get around your hitches to be where u wish to be!

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@becsbuddy

Good morning to all you “wacky walkers!” I’ve set a plan for myself to walk more than 4000 steps on my morning walk. Success today! But first, i had to take the dog for a walk, and then we met my friend with 4 Bassett hounds, then another friend with her 2 dogs came along so my walk was delayed. I could go earlier but that means getting up earlier. ;-/.
Let’s share what/who we see and do on our walks!

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Good morning, Becky! Glad you are enjoying walks, with and without the dog! Me, too! Sunday to Friday this week I met my current goal of 4k everyday except Thursday! One evening, while walking our dog, I had a lovely chat with a neighbor walking hers. Special because we just moved here in June and then I did radiation so I am just rejoining the land of the living and am ready for friends. Some days my walking is an actual walk. Yesterday it was sweeping the floors and grocery shopping and walking in and out of the library to work. It took me several trips to get the groceries from the car to the apartment and we are back from the parking lot so that’s a nice Friday workout. 🙂 I get bored with exercise routines so I need to vary it. Hoping these extreme temperatures break soon so I can hit some trails!

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@kathyholmes

Good morning, Becky! Glad you are enjoying walks, with and without the dog! Me, too! Sunday to Friday this week I met my current goal of 4k everyday except Thursday! One evening, while walking our dog, I had a lovely chat with a neighbor walking hers. Special because we just moved here in June and then I did radiation so I am just rejoining the land of the living and am ready for friends. Some days my walking is an actual walk. Yesterday it was sweeping the floors and grocery shopping and walking in and out of the library to work. It took me several trips to get the groceries from the car to the apartment and we are back from the parking lot so that’s a nice Friday workout. 🙂 I get bored with exercise routines so I need to vary it. Hoping these extreme temperatures break soon so I can hit some trails!

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Hi Kathy - I'm glad you count a day of errands and chores as a walk like I do. Yesterday I never left my yard, hardly left the house, and went 2 miles including 20 trips up and down the stairs. It was laundry day and I have challenged myself for the past 3 months to wash, fold and put away all that is clean & dry, as well as make up the beds on laundry day instead of dealing with baskets for days. Today all the hang-dry will be put away too.
Today my walk will be at the whim of my 4yo grandson it is his Gramma & Bompa day. That probably means games of tag and hide'n'seek in the local park.
Sue

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@sueinmn

Hi Kathy - I'm glad you count a day of errands and chores as a walk like I do. Yesterday I never left my yard, hardly left the house, and went 2 miles including 20 trips up and down the stairs. It was laundry day and I have challenged myself for the past 3 months to wash, fold and put away all that is clean & dry, as well as make up the beds on laundry day instead of dealing with baskets for days. Today all the hang-dry will be put away too.
Today my walk will be at the whim of my 4yo grandson it is his Gramma & Bompa day. That probably means games of tag and hide'n'seek in the local park.
Sue

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Sue, I hear you! I, too, have recently committed to getting the laundry done all in one day! We recently downsized from our 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment and there just isn’t anywhere to stash laundry baskets for days anymore. It helps that in the smaller space my other chores are much more manageable. I hope you had a great day with your grandson. We are welcoming our first grandchild, also a boy, in about 4-5 weeks! So excited!

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