Walking with Howard…

As you may have surmised from previous posts, I love to walk; have for many years. However, since my retirement in May 2010, and with the encouragement of my primary care physician, walking has become a major focus and passion for me – perhaps even a healthy obsession (hey, you could be obsessed with worse things!!).

 I walk a lot – typically, 20-30 miles per week – and when training rigorously for a long-distance, charity event like Project Bread’s 20-mile Walk for Hunger or Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk, I may discover I’ve done a lot more (e.g., I just tallied my workouts for April and was surprised that I had walked 120+ miles – way, way more than necessary to prepare for an event like May 6^th’s Walk for Hunger, but I just love it and the miles just seem to accumulate). I also have a strong desire to ‘pass on’ the physical and emotional benefits I experience thru walking and thus: “Walking with Howard…”, a walking clinic/club whose goals are:  

• to assist those who are interested in ‘walking’ for its cardiovascular/aerobic benefit, in getting started
• to help those who have already begun a walking program, in raising it up a notch
• to serve as a resource and sounding board about appropriate training, technique, stretching exercises, footwear, apparel, accountability, etc.
• for those interested in any or all of the prior goals, to create a “community” that meets, periodically, to walk and have fun

‘Though both knowledgeable and experienced “walking the walk”, I was novice as a coach when it was launched in the fall of 2011. Initially (and at least for the indefinite present), “Walking with Howard…” is at ‘no charge’ so those interested can get the benefit of my expertise; in return, I get the opportunity to “pay it forward” and to hone my skills as a coach and trainer.

It has been the practice for our group to “meet-up” mostly on a weekly basis (currently, Saturday afternoons at the “Uncle Sam” statue in Arlington Center near where the Minuteman Bike Trail resumes, heading West). I’m also available for 1-on-1 sessions, schedules permitting.

But what if you don’t live in the Boston area or can’t make the meet-ups? Not a problem: a lot of what I have to offer can be communicated online; the rest is implementation and practice. Hey, I’m self-taught and this isn’t ‘rocket science’.

If you are interested (or merely curious) in “Walking with Howard…”  I’d love to hear from you – all levels or no experience – are welcome!!

Contact me: walkingwithhoward@comcast.net

Bringing my "narrative" forward…

A piece about my experience losing weight and getting fit – including “before-and-after” photos – appeared last month in Kerri Hawkins’ blog, Dietitian Drive. She, along with Dr. Wayne Altman (my PCP), created the Wellness and Lifestyle Program at the FamilyPractice Group, Arlington MA, which got me started and with which I remain involved. I’m humbled by her kind words.

So, now that I've pretty much brought you, my audience, up-to-date, I expect the frequency of my posts will taper off in a bit; it’s just that a lot of stuff has accumulated in my head which I need to flush out.

2012 Project Bread Walk for Hunger

“It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away…”
"Beautiful Day" Words and music by U2

I didn’t. Last Sunday was another amazing day, another amazing Walk!!

Performance-wise, we achieved all we set out to do, and more. Financially, we blew past our initial goal of $720, with contributions currently just under $770 – that means my commitment to double my pledge has been triggered. Equally important, that so many offered their financial and/or spiritual support and well-wishes. Not sure you can appreciate what that means – how up-lifting it is – to a participant.

I’m also going to add an additional as yet undetermined sum so that the total amount raised will be a multiple of $18 (the letters of the Hebrew alphabet that comprise the numerical value of “18” are Chet and Yod . Pronounced ‘Chai’ (rhymes with ‘Hi’ with a guttural ‘kh’), it means “life” – a uniquely appropriate multiple with which to base a donation to a cause like fighting hunger!).

Physically, I completed the 20 mile course in 6 ½ hours. Kind ‘a slow for me but I was walking with a new friend (see below), talked all the way and we took a break at Newton Center to stretch and re-fuel and another at the Arsenal Park Snack Stop just before the 12 mile marker (BTW, the food they offer is awful – I bring my own – but someone (maybe me?) should set them straight). During the Walk I never felt better. And at the end I felt no different than at the conclusion of my usual 9 milers. Now some of that may be because of the wonderful post-Walk massage I got in the Heart & Sole Circle tent (for those who raise more than $500). My ongoing walking regimen, including the intervals I started doing last month at the suggestion of Kerri Hawkins Put Some Pep inYour Step… Exercise of the Week: Intervals | Dietitian Drive, the pre-and during-the-Walk hydration and nutrition and the stretching at the re-fueling stops also had a lot to do with it. Bottom line, I felt like I could do some more. Seriously. And the next morning…not an ache or discomfort in sight!

It seems like everything I do now has a story and this one is no exception. It’s Sunday morning, about 6:30 am. I’m sitting in the Red Line train at Alewife waiting for it to depart when a tall, lanky guy with a bright engaging persona and dressed for the event sits down across from me. Naturally, we converse. It’s Bruce’s 28^th Walk, he’s a Heart & Sole Circle participant too and we decide to walk together. Well, for the next 6 ½ hours plus, I don’t believe our conversation stopped except to “you-know-what”. About 10 years my junior, lives in NH, just across the MA border, a lot of similar interests and experiences and an outlook in common so, much to share.

Don’t really know how to account for it but I guess when one is open to new experiences, making a friend like Bruce under the circumstances of participating in a physically taxing event like the Walk is entirely possible.

Nothing more to add.

In The Beginning...

So, I guess for my initial post, I should begin at the beginning which, for the purposes of this commentary, is September 2010.

At the urging of my primary care physician, I joined a 4-month wellness and nutrition group he and a licensed dietitian in his practice were conducting. They had been leading them since the fall of 2009. I was willing but skeptical – nothing I’d tried over the past 50+ years of my adulthood ever worked (or worked for very long). I was mostly a “couch-potato” with issues relating to high blood pressure, cholesterol, and glycemic index. I was pre-diabetic and my BMI was at the upper range of the “obese” segment.

The results were transformative. Over the ensuing 12 months, I lost almost 20% of my body weight – about 35 lbs. – and 8 inches in my waist. I’m also healthier and in better shape by far than in decades, if not ‘ever’. I Nordic-walk at least 20 miles per week at a sustained 15 min/mile pace. I also do strength/resistance exercises at the gym twice a week. A year later, I did the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk – all 26.2 miles – in about 7 hours.

I sleep like a babe and my mood is generally ‘happy’ in the sense of being content. My diet now emphasizes fruits, veggies and other nutritionally “dense” foods. At my annual physical in the spring of 2011, my doctor informed me all my test results were normal. Oh, and I should mention I turned 70 in 2011. I guess results like those would allow the experience that produced them to qualify as “transformative”.

So, why a blog? Well, I seem to have a lot to say about these experiences and the changes I’ve made. Second, my observations appear to be well received by others. Lastly, despite having achieved the successes I have, I’ve discovered the need to ‘pay it forward’. I hope you find something of value here.