Think about that. In less than nine months, she moved from the Big Apple, started a new job, moved into a new place, set up utilities — and thought up and spearheaded Bull City Summer Streets.  From 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday afternoon, nine Durham streets will be closed to motor traffic so we can bike, skate, skateboard, scooter, Trikke, walk — whatever, just as long as a motorized vehicle isn’t involved. It will be a cycling Shangri-La, if only for four hours.

“It’s patterned after an event in Bogota, Columbia, where 70 miles of downtown streets are closed to traffic every Sunday,” says Landfried, transit education specialist for Clean Energy Durham. That event, called a “ciclovia,” was begun in the 1980s by Enrique Penalosa, a Duke grad student, and has since been adopted in Guadalajara, Mexico, and various U.S. cities, including New York City, where 7 miles of Park Avenue, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park, are closed to traffic summer Sunday mornings as part of that city’s Summer Streets program.

It was in New York, where Landfried spent two years studying alternative transportation, that she got the idea for Bull City Summer Streets. (My lead aside, Landfried is actually from Durham and is back here working on a masters in environmental management at Duke’s Nicholas School for the Environment.) Shortly after unpacking her boxes, she started discussing the idea with various community groups. Turned out the Active Living Committee of Durham CAN (short for Congregations, Associations and Neighborhoods), a grassroots nonprofit, was looking for ways to help combat obesity, heart disease and related health problems locally. Thus began a marriage and a marathon sprint to pull Bull City Summer Streets together by the start of the 2010 outdoor season, a sprint whose biggest obstacle would seem to have been dealing with the red tape required to close nine downtown streets to traffic on a Sunday afternoon.

Fortunately, she was put in touch with Durham Police Capt. Anthony Marsh. Landfried met with Marsh, showed him a video of what she had in mind, they looked at a map and he said, Here, you can do it here (see map). Further aiding the cause: a group of Durham reserve police officers have volunteered their time to man traffic barriers. And while you might think that the notion of pedestrians taking over the streets could freak out a local or two, Landfried said that none of the 20 or so property owners she approached about the event (she was required to get each property owner affected by the street closure to sign off) balked. Some didn’t fully get the concept, she said, but no one said no.

Cyclists rule on Park Avenue as part of NYC's Summer Streets program. Photo by Eric Harvey Brown.

So on Sunday for four hours, perambulators will rule. They’ll be able to walk to the Durham Athletic Park (the historic ballpark will be open) and play catch. They’ll be able to visit the Scrap Exchange, which will have an outdoor cafe set up. They’ll be able to take outdoor aerobics classes courtesy the Downtown Durham YMCA. They’ll be able to shop the Durham Farmer’s Market, and they’ll be able to “dance, salsa, zumba, jump, skate, blade, bike, jog, walk and laugh” in the streets without having to worry about cars.

In addition to a day of playing in the streets, Landfried sees the Bull City Summer Streets as a boost for the local economy. “People walking will buy things in a way that people in a car never will,” she says, referring to the intimacy and slower pace of foot travel. To that end, she hopes some of the nearby businesses — restaurants, in particular — that normally close on Sunday will stay open.

Landfried wants to see Bull city Summer Streets become part of Durham’s weekly summer scene. She also sees it as a quick and inexpensive alternative to another popular mode of perambulating pavement, the greenway.

“Building a greenway is expensive and they can take a decade to build. This,” she adds, “is an automatic greenway.”

Specifics
What: Bull City Summer Streets.
When: Sunday, 2-6 p.m.
Where: 1-mile loop of downtown Durham streets (and three streets within that loop). The loop is made up of Fenway Avenue, Liggett Street, W. Corporation Boulevard, Washington Street, W. Greer Street, Foster Street, Hunt Street, Morris Street. (See map.)
Cost: Free.
More info: Go here.

Hot flashes. Headaches. Hair growing where it shouldn’t and not where it should. A tummy that won’t go away no matter how many crunches you do. Just when women of a certain age thought it couldn’t get worse, a new study suggests it can.

This latest study, conducted by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that menopausal and perimenopausal women fight an uphill battle to stay in shape. Those already in shape and at an appropriate weight need to exercise an hour a day just to maintain their existing status, the study found. Further, women classified as overweight, which would constitute the largest segment of this age group, need to exercise two hours a day to get into shape while those women falling into the obese category need to cancel their social lives entirely because they need to hit the gym for three hours a day to get into shape.

“A study like this gets the entire female population in a tizzy,” says Mary Petters, an exercise physiologist with the UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont in Chapel Hill. “Not a lot of people have time to exercise like that.”

Nor do they need to.

Petters and other health and fitness experts say the study is flawed. For one, the results were self-reported, meaning those 34,000-plus participants (average age: 54) were on the honor system to report their fitness habits over the course of the 13-year study. People may not intentionally lie in such studies, says Gerald Endress, fitness director of the Duke Diet & Fitness Center in Durham, but they have a tendency to overestimate how long they exercise and forget what they eat between main meals.

“People tend to graze throughout the day,” says Endress.

There’s also the fact that study participants were deemed fit, overweight or obese based on on their body mass index, or BMI, which can penalize people for having more muscle mass, which is heavier than fat. And diet wasn’t considered in the study, a significant flaw in the opinion of Endress.

“With fitness, you can always overeat your workout,” says Endress. “Some people feel they can eat whatever they want when they exercise.”

That said, the healthcare community believes the report does reflect a general truism: Everyone, especially women dealing with the double whammy of menopause and a slowing metabolism that comes with aging, needs to exercise more.

Menopause can be especially vexing for women trying to lose weight. As their estrogen levels drop, their testosterone exerts more influence. Because of the ensuing havoc — the aforementioned hot flashes, headaches, hair woes — a woman’s body will do what it can to retain whatever stores of estrogen it has. Alas, says Petters, estrogen is stored in fat.

But despair not, says Leigh Shipman, an instructor with the Simmons Branch of the Charlotte YMCA. She’s been been working with “active older adults” for 17 years, and she’s seen both men and women lose weight and get fit.

“The average American woman should do just fine with one hour of moderate exercise a day,” says Shipman, who is 51.

Adds Petters, who deals mostly with people over 50: The key is finding the right exercise regimen, one you enjoy, one you look forward to doing and thus, one that you’ll stick with.

“There’s something out there for everyone,” says Petters. “You’re never too old to start.

* * * * * * *

Four for the 50s

We polled health and fitness experts Mary Petters at the UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont, Leigh Shipman with the Charlotte YMCAs and Gerald Endress with the Duke Diet & Fitness Center to find the most popular exercise classes for women 45 and older at their facilities.

Zumba
This Latin dance workout originated in Columbia in the 1990s and emigrated to the U.S. 10 years ago. It is currently offered in just about every gym/wellness center that offers fitness classes.
Benefits: It’s a full-body aerobic workout, says Mary Petters with UNC-Meadowmont. It gets you sweating, gets your heart rate up, burns calories — and it’s fun.
Why it’s popular with the 50-plus set: Unlike other dance and aerobic routines, Zumba is  less choreographed, more free-spirited. No tricky footstep combinations to memorize.
Water aerobics / swimming
Ten years ago, says Duke’s Endress, water exercises focused on folks with arthritis and other joint issues. That’s changed. “Water aerobics has really taken off … it’s a much more vigorous exercise. … We even have an aqua boot camp.”
Benefits: Good cardio, good toning.
Why it’s popular with the 50-plus set: You may not have arthritis, but at 50 your joints still need more TLC than they did 20 years ago; exercising in water relives the pressure on your joints. Plus, such aerobics classes are typically held in warm water pools (80 to 83 degrees or warmer), which helps relax muscles.

Walking
According to the National Sporting Goods Association, walking was the preferred exercise for 24.9 million women ages 45 and up in 2009, making it by far the most popular form of exercise for that demographic (“exercising with equipment” was a distant second, with 11.3 million participants.)
Benefits: A vigorous daily walk of at least 30 minutes can, according to AARP: manage weight, control blood pressure, decrease the risk of heart attack, boost “good” cholesterol, lower the risk of stroke, reduce risk of breast cancer and type 2 diabetes, protect against hip fracture, reduce the need for gallstone injury.
Why it’s popular with the 50-plus set: It’s convenient (you can do it on your own schedule, out your front door), it’s inexpensive (all you need is a decent pair of walking shoes), and it can be social (walking groups, formal and informal, are especially popular with older walkers).

Pilates
Exercises done either with or without equipment that focus on core strength, flexibility and balance — the main areas we worry about as we age.
Benefits: The aforementioned benefits can make you leaner and stronger, but they also help people move more gracefully and efficiently, making it possible to do some of the basic functions of day-to-day life that can become a challenge as we age.
Why it’s popular with the 50-plus set: It’s adaptable. Pilates classes can be grueling enough to benefit a professional athlete or scaled back to accommodate people with less strength and flexibility.
* * * * * *
Tips

1. Getting started. Consult a nutritionist and a trainer. A nutritionist can help you get a handle on what you really are eating and what you should be eating, says Duke’s Gerald Endress. “People say, ‘I don’t eat a lot,’ then they start writing down all the Starbucks coffees they have,” says Endress. “They can even overeat fruit — an apple has 100 calories.” Likewise, says UNC-Meadowmont’s Mary Petters, a good trainer can help you look at your lifestyle — work, family commitments, etc. — and see what realistically will work for you.
2. Mix it up. “The body gets used to what you’re doing,” says the Charlotte Y’s Leigh Shipman, “and after a while it won’t work as hard. You need to challenge it to work the muscles differently.” For instance, you may walk on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and take pilates on Tuesday and Thursday.
3. Achieve a “moderate” pace. You need to push yourself. Not at first, says Petters: It’s good to work into a new routine. But to get stronger and lose weight your body needs to be challenged. The fitness industry has various scientific ways of determining your Rate of Perceived Exertion; Shipman relies on one tried and true measure: Sweat. “If you’re not sweating, your heart is not getting the workout it needs and you’re not burning the calories you need to burn.”

Years ago I had a typical desk job, glued to a computer screen in a gray bullpen in a windowless room. Could there possibly be a more bleak work environment? I wondered as I often contemplated how far one could throw a computer terminal from a third-floor office window. I started walking at lunch less for the exercise than to relieve the tedium of the day. Often, the prospect of my noon walk was what kept me plugging along.

But after a while, even my noon walk became mired in tedium and I eventually figured out why: I was doing the same two-mile route over and over. Passing the same uninspired downtown architecture (my route took me past the state government complex in downtown Raleigh) was better than eating at my desk, but it wasn’t the escape I craved. Walking at lunch, I discovered, is as much about the escape as the exercise. You do it to get away from the familiar, from the mundane, from the routine. Substituting one same-old same-old with another won’t return you to work energized and refreshed.

For some of you, this isn’t an issue. If you work at SAS at its Cary headquarters, for instance, you have a network of walking trails out your office door. Likewise, if you work in Research Triangle Park, where 14 miles of jogging/pedestrian trail wind through RTP’s 7,000 acres. Most of us, though, need to get more creative with our routes. Here’s what I did.

First, I decided that 30 minutes wasn’t enough time for either the escape I craved or the aerobic boost I needed. So I awarded myself an hour for lunch (to be made up with an extra half hour tacked on at day’s end). Then I cut a circle out of cardboard, marked it with the points of the compass and fashioned a needle. Just before heading out, I’d spin the needle: Whichever direction it came to rest on was the direction I would walk that day. Thirty minutes out, 30 minutes back.

My noon walk became an hour-long adventure. The four prime coordinates took me to four distinct worlds.

North meant a trip past the hideous state government complex to the old Mordecai neighborhood. Much as I love a walk in the forest, it’s hard to beat walking through a gentrified neighborhood and checking out the home improvements.

West took me to the warehouse district. Today, this is a happening area in downtown’s reviving nightlife scene; back then, it was pretty much just that: a warehouse district where brick buildings, most abandoned and little changed from a half century earlier, made you feel like you’d been plunked down in the pages of a gritty Mickey Spillane thriller.

South took in a massive grain processing plant and smaller industrial operations, many with intricate mechanical workings that, from the street and observed through a left brain, resembled Rube Goldberg creations.

East was my favorite. East took me into older residential neighborhoods were people still hung out on porches, talked to their neighbors, took time to enjoy life. The perfect social antidote for a morning spent staring at a screen.

Every day was a surprise. And because the world isn’t simply divided into North, South, East and West, but northwest, north-northwest and west-northwest as well, the routes rarely repeated. If it appeared they might, all the more incentive to pick up the pace and explore even farther.

I learned a lot about the neighborhood I worked in on those lunchtime walks. I also lost some weight, got some sun and improved my odds at a longer, healthier life.

Most important? I never discovered how far one could throw a computer terminal from a third-floor office window.

We’ve already gone over what National Walk@Lunch Week/Day is and why it’s important. Today, we’ll discuss how to make it happen. Not that taking a walk is rocket science, but it’ll behoove you to have a little direction going into tomorrow.

What you’ll need

Walking shoes are good, but they needn't be fancy.

Shoes & socks. While some shoes can double as work & workout shoes, for the most part you’re smart to bring a separate pair of shoes dedicated to the purpose. You don’t need fancy athletic shoes, just something comfy that won’t cause blisters or otherwise mess with your feet. As for socks, a pair of plain old athletic socks will serve the purpose, which basically is to keep you from having sweaty feet the rest of the day.

Wet wipes. Speaking of sweat, there’s a chance you might work up a little. Some people stash wet wipes in their desk to freshen up with after a walk. (Amazing what a swipe under the arms can do minimize collateral damage.) Others stick a damp washcloth in a ziplock bag. Hand sanitizer applied in the aforementioned

Wet wipes help eliminate a post-walk glow.

pits works as well.

A quick, portable lunch. Ironically, while a main goal here is to keep you from eating at your desk, you likely will end up eating at your desk — but only because your alotted lunch period has been consumed with a walk! Thus, you’ll need something quick and portable, something you can eat with preparation and without paying it much attention, and because you’ve just done well by your body and don’t want to ruin the effect, something healthy. Veggies (carrots and cherry tomatoes top my list), fruit (we’re coming into strawberry season), and maybe a sandwich (mustard instead of mayo, wheat bread instead of white), and you’ll have one happy body the rest of the day.

Game day game plan

Breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day, even more so if you’ll be burning extra fuel over the noon hour. Don’t scrimp; make sure you’re sufficiently fueled to make the most of your walk.

Pre-walk refueling. Even if you had a good breakfast, it won’t hurt to have a quick snack an hour before you walk. A handful of nuts, for instance, is particularly effective.

Never leave a naked office chair.

Slipping away. Let’s face it, if you have a reputation of working through lunch, you may be a little concerned about being away from your post for 30 minutes or — gads! — 35. You may need to ease your boss and coworkers into the notion of you being away. Do this by giving the appearance that you’ve just slipped away for a moment. A sweater over the back of your chair, a report scattered across your desk, even buying a piping hot cup of coffee to leave on your desk just before heading out — all good ways to divert attention.

Enlist recruits. Another way to not draw attention to your absence: Recruit coworkers. If they’re in on the act, they won’t left to speculate on your whereabouts.

How long should I walk? Shoot for half an hour. One camp of healthcare advocates says that as little as 10 minutes of continuous walking can do you good. This may be true, but if you really want to reap the benefits of being active, you should keep your heart working for a good 30 minutes. It’s discouraging to be doing what you think you’re supposed to be doing and not feel better or see results; minimize that risk with a minimum 30-minute walk.

Where should I walk? Good question, one we’ll answer tomorrow.

Post walk. If you did your job and got your heart rate up, chances are you’ll return with what the more genteel among us would label a “glow,” the rest of us a good sweat. Five minutes or so of chilling in a cool spot should erase most of that glow, those wet wipes you packed should handle the rest.

Log it. I’m big on logging workouts, if for no other reason than at the end of the week you can look back and see that at least you accomplished something. If you’re a just-the-facts type, your distance and time will suffice. Those of you who like a more complete recollection of history may also want to record the weather, where you walked, who you walked with, what you thought about on your walk.

Your thought here.

What I thought about? Yes, what you thought about. For while you may think that the main reason to walk over lunch is for your physical well-being, you’ll be surprised by what it does for you mentally. Away from email, away from the phone, away from the constant barrage of demanding coworkers and bosses, you’ll discover the true benefit of taking 30 minutes to take a walk: time to think.

Or, perhaps more crucially, not.

Let’s take a walk.

A fact that will surprise few of you: In 2006, KFC — the fried chicken people — conducted a survey of working America’s lunchtime habits that found, among other things, that nearly two-thirds of worker bees surveyed declared the lunch “hour” to be “the biggest myth in office life.” In practice, 52 percent said they took less than 30 minutes for lunch and 58 percent reported that they eat at their desk and work through lunch.

Most unfortunate, this apparent feeling by much of the workforce (including our pictured friend) that they need to work through lunch in order to squeeze out another widget by the 5 o’clock whistle. Unfortunate, too, that corporate America does little to discourage this behavior. Because by letting their workers stay at their desks over lunch, they’re damaging the bottom line. Here’s why.

More productive workers. You don’t need a study — although plenty have been done — to tell you that a little exercise boosts brainpower. According to one study of 210 office workers conducted by Leeds Metropolitan University in England, 65 percent of those who exercised between 45 minutes and an hour scored better on tests evaluating their subsequent mental-interpersonal performance, their ability to manage time and their productivity. Staying glued to your desk actually diminishes your productivity as the day wears on.

Healthier workers. In 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health care costs associated with “physical inactivity” exceeded $76 billion (a chunk of which was paid for through employer health care plans). “If 10% of adults began a regular walking program,” says the CDC, “$5.6 billion in heart disease costs could be saved.” Also: Unhealthy workers miss more work.

Happier workers. Your office may have the spiffiest, high-tech cubicles going, but after spending 9 hours straight in one you might as well be in a concrete cell. Getting out, getting some sun, getting fresh air does wonders for one’s disposition.

So why attack the problem now? It’s National Walk @ Lunch Week.  If you’ve never taken the opportunity to walk over your lunch hour, here’s your chance. Walking isn’t complicated, which is one reason it’s the most popular form of exercise in the country. (96.6 million of us walked for exercise last year, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.) But to get the most out of your 30-minute (or more) walk, it’s good to plan ahead. So, come back next week when:

• Sunday: Tips on how to turn your lunch hour into your hour of power walking.
• Monday: How to make your noon-time walk not just a workout but an adventure!

Most involve a short hike, followed by a little talk, maybe another short hike a little more talk. They are not strenuous. They will, however, get you moving.  And if they get you moving to the point you want to move more, I’ve included an option for doing that as well. Events are free unless otherwise noted.

For even more events, visit the state Office of Environmental Education web site.

Friday

Star gazing at the Boulders
Crowders Mountain State Park
Kings Mountain (Charlotte area)
8 p.m.

Doesn’t the weekend technically begin at 5 on Fridays? Which slips this event at the lone bouldering area in the state parks system under the deadline. Meet at the parking area, take a short hike (bring a flashlight or headlamp for the hike out) and check out the constellations.
Move more: You’ll have to come back Saturday to check out Buzzards Roost, where climbing on low rocks without anchors and other protection is allowed. Also: the 6.2-mile Ridgeline Trail, which will take you northeast to King’s Pinnacle, southwest into South Carolina.
Directions here, more info here.

Saturday

2010 Piedmont Earth Fair
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem
10 a.m.-5 p.m.

There’s no specific physical component to this event (although there are directions for biking to the fair), but you’ll easily put on some miles visiting the 100-plus exhibitors and teaching tents, rambling over to hear the live music (six bands representing everything from Old Time music to “Appalachian Punk”) and checking out the kids exhibits. And yes, while there’s the temptation of food, “The food vendors at the Fair are trying to use as much local produce as possible …” which should translate to fresher and healthier than normal fair fare.
Move more: Stay longer.
Directions here, more info here.

Hike to Sandy Cliff Overlook
Lake James State Park
Nebo
10 a.m.

What better incentive to hike than a vista at trail’s end? This half-mile hike (one mile roundtrip). A ranger shows you the way and shares insights about the lake.
Move more: Lake James has two longer trails, the 1.5-mile Lake Channel Overlook Trail and the 2.2-mile Den Loop Trail.
Directions here, more info here.

Nature Journal Hike — Spring Animal Tracks
Lake Waccamaw State Park
Lake Waccamaw
2 p.m.

The chance to record what you find in the wild — another good incentive that might take your mind off a potentially hot, potentially sweaty hike. Focus of this month’s monthly journal hike is on animal tracks.
Move more: Nothing makes an aspiring walker feel better than racking up the miles, and nowhere is it easier to rack them up than on flat trails, such as the 3/4-mile Sand Ridge Nature Loop, the 2.5-mile Pine Woods Trail or the mile-long Loblolly Loop.
Directions here, more info here.

Environmental Education Week Nature Hike
Mount Mitchell State Park
Burnsville
2 p.m.

In contrast to racking up the flat miles, there’s a certain cache in being able to say you climbed the highest peak east of South Dakota’s Black Hills, something you can say that after attending this 1.5-mile hike on the crest of the mighty Black Mountains.
Move more: Definitely don’t visit Mount Mitchell without heading out on the Black Mountain Crest Trail to 6,637-foot-foot Mount Craig and 6,568-foot Big Tom (the view from which can be seen above). They aren’t far, less than two miles, but it’s challenging hiking.
Directions here, more info here.

Wildflower Walk
Reedy Creek Nature Center
Charlotte
1 p.m.

Pretty things — another reason to hike. Take a “liesurely walk” with a naturalist and discover the story behind all those wildflowers poking through the forest floor.
Move more: In addition to nature, you’ll find an 18-hole disc golf course, two volleyball courts, a basketball court, a playground and swing garden, two softball fields, a soccer field — if you can’t find a reason to move more here, you aren’t looking hard enough.
Directions here, more info here.

Celebrate Earth Day: Get Your Green On
White Deer Park
Garner
9 a.m.-3 p.m.

One of the newest parks around (it opened in November), there’s lots to do here to celebrate Earth Day. Then, play on the new playground, or walk the greenway,  or — just go here to see some of your options.
Move more: Did you watch the video?
Directions here, more info here.

Sunday

Spring Tree ID, Ribbet-ing Frog Calls
Cliffs of the Neuse State Park
Seven Springs
1 p.m., 4 p.m.

Older nature lovers will like the short hike to check out the trees in bloom this spring and for the younger ones who appear glued to the video screen it’s hard to resist the prospect of tromping around in a creek and getting muddy.
Move more: Four hiking trails, all less than a mile, snake out from the parking area.
Directions here,  more info here.

High Shoals Falls.

The 10 Essentials
South Mountains State Park
Connelly Springs (south of Morganton)
2 p.m.

Afraid to go on even a short hike in the woods because you don’t know what to take and how to dress? Learn the 10 essentials from a ranger, then …
Move more: South Mountains is covered with trails; test your mettle on the High Shoals Falls Loop, which goes up and around an 80-foot waterfall. Lots of climbing but you won’t feel a thing thanks to the scenery.
Directions here, more info here.

For the first 37 years of her life, becoming a die-hard runner wasn’t on Carol Gore’s bucket list.

“I never had a desire to start running,” says Gore, who lives in Fort Mill, S.C. “In high school, I hated gym class. I was always the last one picked.”

Participants in fall's Fit-Tastic program queue up for the Monster Dash 5K, that program's graduation.

But two years ago, Gore worried that her 2-mile-a-day, five-day-a-week walking regimen was no longer cutting it in her battle of the bulge. A friend suggested running just a bit during her walks to burn more calories.

Gore gave it a try. She was smitten.

That November she ran an 8K (5 miles) Turkey Trot; the following year, 2009, a half marathon. She’s training for another of the 13.1-mile races in September. “I became hooked,” says Gore, who is 40.

During the nation’s first running boom in the 1970s, if you wanted to be a runner you were told to run – a lot. Thirty-, 40-, 50-mile weeks were de rigueur, running till it hurt the ultimate sign that you were on track. Only if you were suffering heatstroke or had a broken leg was it OK to walk.

Today, that philosophy has been flipped on its ear. As Gore discovered by taking her friend’s advice, if you want to be a runner it’s not only OK to walk, you may get in trouble with your coach if you don’t.

* * *

The notion of a running program that encourages walking was pioneered by Jeff Galloway, a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic team. As a marathoner, Galloway was intimately familiar with the toll running took on the body. In the 1970s, Runner’s World magazine estimated that about two-thirds of runners reported some form of injury – from shin splints to stress fractures – in any given year.

Many of those injuries, Galloway determined, were the result of trying to go too far, too fast. So he started his Galloway running program, which stressed the novel approach of running/walking.

The author, about to graduate from fall's Fit-tastic program.

“We can set up a run/walk ratio that will allow a beginner to sense some degree of success,” says John Lineberger, who oversees the Galloway program in Charlotte. “If an individual is new to running we can make the run 30 seconds, or 20 seconds, or 15 seconds, or 10 seconds of running followed by one minute of walking.” That ratio is gradually shifted as the runner is weaned off walking.

“A lot of people are prejudiced against Galloway,” says Gore, who enrolled in the Charlotte program to train for her half marathon. “They think the walking part is sissy stuff. But I was able to do 11:36 miles in my first half marathon, and I felt good the next day.”

So successful has the Galloway method proven that it’s been adapted for shorter runs. Especially popular are programs preparing nonrunners to run a 5K (3.1-mile) race in three months or less.

Amanda Clark, assistant manager of the Fleet Feet store in Raleigh, says the store’s 3-year-old No Boundaries program draws about 80 participants; Dexter Pepperman with Run for Your Life in Charlotte says that store’s program, offered five times a year, attracts about the same. Like most run/walk programs, these include at least two training sessions a week, coaching, seminars on training and nutrition, e-mail support and a T-shirt.

Most participants are female – about 70 percent, estimates Clark – and ages range from the 20s to 70. Some want to run the entire race; others are content to walk 3.1 miles.
Run/walk programs are driving a running renaissance that’s seen the number of runners in the U.S. increase 57 percent over the past 10 years, to 35.9 million, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. In 2008, the NGSA reported that running/jogging was the nation’s fastest-growing form of exercise.

* * *

Jean Hagen-Johnson, a charter member of the 10-year-old Beginner Women’s Running Program sponsored by the N.C. Roadrunners Club, says another reason run/walk programs are popular is the moral support. “What I gained the most in the running group,” says the 56-year-old Raleigh resident, “were the really nice friends who enjoyed running for the health benefits and the social aspect.”

Runners struggle together in the group format, they support one another and they advance together.

Georgia Hagen, Jean’s sister and the founder of NCRC’s beginner program, says the main reason women join the program isn’t to lose weight, although that motivator is up there. Rather, it’s to develop a consistent exercise program. The set workouts two or three days a week, the coaching and the sense of camaraderie can have a profound impact come graduation at the program’s target 5K.

“We have had women quite overweight. When they come across that finish line they have tears streaming down their faces,” Hagen says. “They’re so appreciative, so happy. It’s just so rewarding.”

Additional reading

To read more on the current running boom and what’s fueling it, go here.

To ready more about the walking-to-run philosophy, go here.

* * *

The programs

Raleigh

Running Start
Briefly: 11-week program, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Training began March 27 (late sign-up allowed).
Sponsor: Carolina Godiva Track Club.
Cost: $45 (includes club membership).
More info: gary.schultz@verizon.net or the club Web site.

No Boundaries
Briefly: 12 weeks, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Began last Wednesday (sign-up through April 4)
Sponsor: Fleet Feet, Raleigh.
Cost: $85.
More info: Fleet Feet at 832-8275 or here.

Fit-Tastic
Briefly: 13 weeks, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Under way (began March 15; late sign-up allowed); fall session begins in August.
Sponsor: The Athlete’s Foot, Raleigh.
Cost: $60.
More info: 828-3487 or here.

Women’s Beginner Running Program
Briefly: 10 weeks, target race is NCRC Women’s Distance Festival 5K on Sept. 26
Starts: Late July.
Sponsor: N.C. Roadrunners Club.
Cost: $75 (includes club membership).
More info: womenbeginnertraining@ncroadrunners.org.

Raleigh Galloway
Briefly: Five-month program, target race is City of Oaks Marathon and Half Marathon on Oct. 31.
Starts: May 22.
Sponsor: Jeff Galloway Training Programs.
Cost: $159 for first-timers, $99 for alumni.
More info: 270-0365  or go here.

Sole Sisters
Briefly: 10-year-old, 14-week, women-only program, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Began March 9. Registration for this session is closed.
Sponsor: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, NC Cancer Hospital.
Cost: Free.
More info: 843-8057, or the Web site.

Charlotte

Interval Running Training
Briefly: 10 weeks, target race is 6th Annual Morrison 5K/10K on May 15.
Starts: Underway (began March 11, late sign-up allowed).
Sponsor: Ballantyne Village YMCA, Charlotte
Cost: $40, $30 for facility members.
More info: (704) 716-4680 or the Web site.

Run for You
Briefly: 9 weeks, target race for current session: Right Moves for Youth Twilight 5K on May 8.
Starts: Underway (began March 16, late sign-up allowed) Coming sessions: May 15, Aug. 3, Oct. 12.
Sponsor: Run for Your Life, Charlotte.
Cost: $99.
More info: (704) 541-9665, or the Web site.

Charlotte Galloway
Briefly: Five-month program, target races vary.
Starts: May 8.
Sponsor: Jeff Galloway Training Programs.
Cost: $159 for first-time marathoners, $99 for marathon alumni, $95 for first-time half-marathoners, $75 for half-marathon alumni.
More info: runwalk26@yahoo.com, or go here.

I had the lunch shift down at the rickshaw plant and I knew right off I was in trouble. All along downtown Raleigh’s Fayetteville Street, along key side streets, and on up to the state government complex all I could see was a sea of white — white walking shoes, that is.

In my day job as a fitness blogger I love seeing office workers who’ve laced up a pair of Reeboks for a half hour walk at lunch. In my side gig as a rickshaw driver, it’s a sign of a long, slow shift. Funny, but not many fitness walkers take me up on my offer for a ride.

Walking is the nation’s most popular form of exercise. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, 96.6 million Americans walked for exercise in 2008 (swimming was a distant second, at 63.5 million, followed by exercising with equipment.) How many of those 96.6 million walkers walk at lunch is hard to say, but I’m guessing the number is high, for a couple reasons. One, that window at noon may be the most convenient time of their day: For many, waking up presents enough of a challenge in the mornings; after work, we’re either too tired or have other commitments. Noon is also good because 30 minutes still seems to be the recommended minimum investment for aerobic benefit. (The Surgeon General is sticking with it.) Spring is an especially good time to walk at noon; the temperature has yet to reach the point where a vigorous half-hour walk can result in undesired lingering effects back at the desk.

If you’re walking at lunch, great. If you’re curious about walking at lunch, you can score some tips and direction at the National Walk@Lunch Day Web site.  (Disclosure: National Walk@Lunch Day is sponsored by the BlueCross BlueShield Assocation; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina sponsors this blog.)

As for my rickshaw persona, I’m working the night shift from now on. Bar hoppers have no qualms about taking a ride.

Usually, this gem is wedged between “Take the stairs, not the elevator” and “Walk 30 minutes at lunch” on the exercise to-do list. And usually, there’s little supporting evidence about why this is a good thing. You should just do it. Here, to bolster the case for parking in the nether regions of your mall parking lot, is some supporting evidence.

How much of a difference will it really make? I’ve wondered that myself. So I went to the local Target with my trusty pedometer to conduct some field research. First, I sought out the closest open spot to the front door, parked, and set my odometer and walked to the door: 26 steps. Then I got in the car, drove to the far end of the lot where there were spaces aplenty, parked, walked to the front door: 164 steps. Since this would be a roundtrip, that’s 328 steps. That right there is more than 3 percent of your government-recommended total of 10,000 steps per day.

What’s the bottom line (meaning for my bottom)? For some of you, I realize, exercise boils down to one thing: How much weight can I lose? Let’s do some quick math. According to a poll of 3,000 women conducted by GE Money, those 3,000 women made, on average, 301 shopping trips per year. Let’s say that on every one of those trips you parked at the far end of the lot, 164 steps from the front door. That’s 328 steps, 301 times in the course of a year. Assuming you don’t stop at the Target snack bar and snarf a stuffed pretzel and a Coke, that’s 98,728 steps in a year. Using the oft-sited 2,000-steps-per-mile figure, that would be 49.364 miles (let’s just go with 50). And let’s say you’re walking at a fairly brisk 4 mile-per-hour pace (and, for calorie calculator sake, let’s say you weigh 160 pounds): You’d burn 363.6 calories in an hour. In the time it would take you to cover 50 miles (about 12 1/2 hours), you would burn 4,545 calories. Since you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound, you would lose about 1.3 pounds a year simply by parking a the far end of the lot. Granted, 1.3 pounds isn’t a lot, but it’s 1.3 pounds more than you’d burn loitering near the front door for a space.

Besides, there are other reasons to park far from the front door in a crazy shopping center parking lot … .

Another bottom line Numbers on how many accidents occur in parking lots are hard to come by because parking lots typically are private property and public law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction. Typically, the parties involved exchange insurance information and let the insurers figure out who’s to blame. But you can bet the number of parking lot fender benders is high, especially if you drive an econobox and find yourself backing out between two SUVs or minivans with tinted windows. You’re driving blind, basically. A number that is clear, though, is the cost of fixing fender benders. In a 2008 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, some of the 20 small cars tested sustained more than $4,000 in damage from impacts ranging from 3 mph to 6 mph. Even the best performer, the Ford Focus, sustained $600 in damage. Park away from the bumper-car action and you’ll reduce your chances of a costly fender bender. And don’t forget those door dings from inconsiderate neighbors, dings that often aren’t worth the time — or expense — to fix.

Caution! Of course while your car may be safer at the far end of the lot, you’ll still have to negotiate the craziness of the lot. According to the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration, 221 deaths and 14,000 injuries occur annually in “nontraffic backover crashes.”
A few tips for not becoming a backover statistics, from personal experience and from the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center:

• On your approach to the more crowded portion of the lot near the front door, pay attention to people getting into cars. Those cars will soon be pulling out.
• Watch for back-up lights. When they go on, you should go on red alert, either by stopping or maneuvering to a spot where you’re pretty sure the car isn’t going.
• Ditto the above for the sound of an engine coming to life (beware the silent-running Prius) http://blogs.automobilemag.com/6244387/car-news/boy-hit-by-quiet-prius-hybrid-spawns-debate/index.html
• Even at crosswalks, where you have the right of way, do not assume you have the right of way. On foot, you’re no match for a minivan on a mission.
• When dealing with cars, do everything you can to make eye contact with the driver. It’s not that they’re less likely to mow you down because you’ve made a personal connection; Rather, it’s the best way to assure that they’ve seen you and know you’re there.
• Make yourself as visible as possible. Don’t walk in the center of the lane, but do walk a foot or two out from parked vehicles to enhance you’re visibility.
• Do not — do NOT — use your cell phone while walking in the lot.
• Do not — do NOT — plug into your iPod while walking in the lot.
• If you’re with children, hold their hand. Children and older people are more susceptible to getting hit in parking lots, according to the NHTSA. Even if they’re older and claim embarrassment, hold their hand.

Besides, isn’t embarrassing your kids a key part of parenting?

While the start of House Creek is good news, Raleigh’s chief greenway planner, Vic Lebsock, says the project will take about two years to complete. That’s longer than most 3-mile greenway projects because it involves digging pedestrian tunnels under two major roads: Lake Boone Trail and Glen Eden Road.

The House Creek Greenway will depart the Reedy Creek Greenway on the east side of the pedestrian bridge spanning I-440 near Wade Avenue. From there it heads north along House Creek to Lake Boone Trail. There, a grade-level crossing was deemed too dangerous because of the volume of traffic on Lake Boone Trail, so the road will be closed to accommodate construction of the pedestrian tunnel. From Lake Boone, the greenway will continue north along the inner Inner Beltline (DOT’s description, not mine) to Glen Eden, where it will go under the road and cross to the west side of the Beltline (or the outer Inner Beltline). It’ll noodle around briefly in Glen Eden Pilot Park, then continue up to Blue Ridge Road where it will cross at a Pedestrian Refuge —

Pedestrian Refuge?

“It’s a center median so you can cross one lane at a time,” explains Lebsock.

The greenway then crosses Crabtree Valley Avenue and connects with the Crabtree Creek Greenway at the McDonald’s.

The project also includes a connector path linking the neighborhood north of Wade Avenue and east of Ridge Road with the Reedy Creek Greenway and the emerging House Creek Greenway.

The completion of House Creek will come at a time when assorted trail tumblers in the Raleigh and Cary greenway systems will be falling into alignment. As reported yesterday,  construction began last week on the 28-mile Neuse River Greenway; Lebsock says that stretch will open in phases and be completed in 2014. Included in that project are four-mile sections on both the Crabtree Creek and Walnut Creek greenways that will hook up those trails to the Neuse Greenway. Walnut Creek connects on the west side of Raleigh with the 4.5-mile Rocky Branch Greenway. Rocky Branch, with help from a 0.3-mile improvised connection through the N.C. State Campus and the 0.4-mile Gorman Street connector, connects with the Reedy Creek trail that runs through Meredith College, the N.C. Museum of Art and on to Umstead State Park.

That’s a lot to keep track of in words. The significance: With all this construction there could be nearly 80 miles of connected greenway in Raleigh and Cary sometime in 2014.  If you were looking at getting in a good training ride on pure greenway — again, with a short, improvised connection through N.C. State — you could do a 35-mile loop traveling clockwise from Anderson Point on the Neuse to Walnut Creek to Rocky Branch to Reedy Creek to House Creek to Crabtree Creek.

I’ll post a comprehensive map depicting this development next week.

* Includes the five-mile stretch through Umstead that isn’t paved, but is a compacted screened gravel. Also includes about a half mile on the mostly gravel, little traveled Old Reedy Creek Road linking Umstead’s aforementioned bike and bridle trail with Cary’s Black Creek Greenway.

Photo: The House Creek Greenway will hook into the Reedy Creek Greenway on the other side of this pedestrian bridge spanning I-440.