Asking anyone to walk the roughly 830 miles may seem like a tall order, but this past spring employees from across the A&M System stepped up to the challenge by participating in the Walk Across Texas program.
Walk Across Texas was created by Texas Cooperative Extension in 1996 to help Texans establish the habit of regular physical activity. Since then, the program has been implemented in most Texas counties.
Here’s how it works: teams of eight people log their daily physical activity for a specified length of time (usually eight weeks). The goal is for each team to log enough miles to get from El Paso to Orange, an approximate distance of 830 miles.
Marjorie Droppa, fitness and wellness coordinator at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, summed up the program best.
“With concerns about health on the rise,” she said, “Walk Across Texas has been a great incentive for our students, staff and faculty to get moving.”
Not to mention family members, as Kimberlee Sandoval, safety/risk manager at Texas A&M International University and captain of the university’s winning team, can attest.
“I got my two boys involved,” she said. “I allowed them to ride their bikes while I walked until eventually we were going for more than an hour. In the beginning I could not find that hour, but by the end of the program that hour did not seem long enough, especially for my boys.”
Employees found that walking and biking weren’t the only ways to get across Texas. Many people jogged, swam or, if temperatures climbed too high, hopped on cardio machines in the comfort of their local gyms. Some people were even more creative. Take Joni Baker, manager of Equal Opportunity for the System Offices in College Station, who discovered a passion for dancing.
“I went to Wal-Mart and found a CD with some real danceable music,” Baker said. “Not slow music by any means. I mean workout music! My favorite songs to conclude my workout were "Independent Women" and "It's Gettin' Hot in Here." If you aren't sweating after those two, you don't know how to dance!”
Rosaura Marroquín, senior administrative assistant at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, also said dancing was a popular option for at least one member of her team, the Walker Texas Rangerettes.
“One person is into Tejano dancing,” Marroquín said. “She hesitated to join our team, because she said she doesn't walk or run or anything. But when I told her how many miles she could get from her dancing, she was in.”
Some Walk Across Texas site managers pulled out all the creative stops and found no end of ways to motivate their teams. For instance, Sarah Tobola, employee benefits representative for TEES in College Station, issued a different challenge to her teams every week during the program. She devised a buildingwide treasure hunt and the “5-5-5 Deal” (five team members must complete five different activities on five separate days). For her efforts, Tobola was awarded a “Most Spirited” award by Bryan/College Station’s Walk Across Texas task force.
Finding fun new approaches to keeping fit was a major plus, but team-building proved to be the program’s most unexpected reward.
“The Walk Across Texas program has brought a great sense of unity to the A&M-Corpus Christi campus,” Droppa said. “While WAT is a competition, it's become a friendly team-building contest on our campus.”
Marroquín agreed, saying Walk Across Texas created a feeling of camaraderie among her coworkers.
“I liked the moral support we were able to give each other,” she said.
Support, fitness and fun are what Walk Across Texas is all about. To find out whether a program is in place in your county, contact your county’s extension office.
H.E.A.D.s Up is a monthly column that features articles on a wide array of Health, Exercise And Diet issues. Information for these articles is provided by health and wellness professionals from throughout the A&M System. If you have questions or story ideas for this column, email Ruth McMullan.