Get to know your feet

Many of the town's habitual walkers favor the simplicity and rhythm of the continuous SR 141-Loop Road-Main Street loop. The beauty of the loop is that you can start or finish anywhere on it you like.

I prefer to alternate my routes, starting from the downtown area and working outward, taking on as many hill climbs as I can find or have time for in my daily schedule.

Most days, I fit in 45 minutes to one hour of walking about (typically two to four miles), which I've found is also a great way to learn more about town: names and locations of streets, where people I know through work reside, that sort of thing.

Mostly, though, I walk for the exercise, which strengthens the muscles in my legs, abdomen and surgically repaired back, helps me clear my head of useless clutter, and aids my effort to keep weight off.

For these and other reasons, your doctor or physical therapist will tell you that walking, a form of aerobic exercise ("any activity involving large muscles, done for an extended period of time," according to WebMD) is good for you. And the health benefits of walking--whether you walk for weight control, cardiovascular health, stress management, fitness or just the sport of it--are hard to argue against.

Walking guru Wendy Bumgardner on the website www.walking.about.com--one of many on the Internet devoted to the subject; another good one is thewalkingsite.com--notes: "Walking at a moderate pace for 30-60 minutes burns stored fat and can build muscle to speed up your metabolism. Walking an hour a day is also associated with cutting your risk of heart disease, breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes and stroke. Isn't it time to work one-hour walks into your busy lifestyle?"

For many of us, there lies the rub--setting aside the "me" time to do something that we know is good for us.

But once you get started, it's hard to stop. Feeling good about yourself becomes an addiction in its own right. Those old excuses you used to fall back on just don't hold up.

Getting started on a walking program, in fact, is easier than thinking up those silly justifications.

The walking.about.com website can help you design a walking program that fits your needs and schedule.

Bumgardner offers a tutorial that describes how walking burns fat and calories, what speed is appropriate, how long and how often to walk, and methods for tracking your activity.

She also advises you about water intake and on how to warm up for your walk; among the helpful tips are stretching exercises that will increase your body's mobility and flexibility and make your walking more comfortable and enjoyable.

The website also provides links to resources for choosing footware and attire, and discusses how using a pedometer--a small device that primarily counts steps--can help motivate your walking.

Finding motivation to get out there walking, of course, is the starting point. And it helps to have a goal, be it weight loss, fitness or just to have some time away from the stresses of work and family.

WebMD summarizes the case for exercising this way: "The point is not to make physical activity an unwelcome chore, but to make the most of the opportunities you have to be active."