Stepping UP! The Charity Miles 26 Day Challenge

About a month ago while waiting with a J.K.O. Running teammate for others to arrive for our weekly evening run, a gentleman asked if we were doing "Charity Miles." There are many groups of charities that meet to run in Central Park regularly, most notably Team in Training and Achilles International. I thought to myself "Charity Miles" must be another one. "No we are not doing Charity Miles," I replied, "What is it?" Gene, the founder of Charity Miles who was in the park to run with others that day, proceeded to tell us about this app he created for Android and I-Phones which allows people to raise money for a charity while they walk, run or bike.

Can you imagine that? Raising money for a charity while you are just enjoying a walk in the park with your dogs? Earn 25-cents/mile if you walk or run or 10-cents/mile if you bike.

The Charity Miles app took moments to install and I have been using it ever since. I love that it keeps a history of my workouts. By tapping on the bar graph icon on the bottom left of the start menu, you can view details of the last 20 you completed; distance, time, whether you selected to walk, run or cycle, the charity and impact.

 

The impact for each charity will be different. For example, for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research or Autism Speaks, the impact will be funding for minutes of research, for Habitat for Humanity a number of pieces of lumber and for the ASPCA a number of puppy and kitten vaccinations.

If you turn your phone horizontally you will see a bar graph showing the miles you trekked during the last 7 days. You can scroll the history to your first Charity Miles workout by tapping on the right arrow.

The app tracks the distance via the GPS on your cell. You will get an email confirmation with details of your Charity Miles impact along with an attachment of a map showing where you trekked. An added bonus if you do not already have a tool to map your runs.

To use the Charity Miles app you do need to have a Facebook account and to have your workout sponsored to support the charity you selected share a post on your feed. For those who do not have or want to have a Facebook account this is the only drawback of the app. There is an option to tweet as well, but it is not necessary to have your workout sponsored.

The Charity Miles Challenge- Just 1 Mile a day for 26 Days during the month of October - Welcome Fall!

I have been using the Charity Miles app since I installed if for my runs. With the NYC ING Marathon a few weeks away I have been thinking of ways to step up my workouts. Charity Miles sent an email to subscribers on Monday regarding its marathon challenge for the month of October. Trek a minimum of one mile a day for 26 days during the month of October and win a Charity Miles tee shirt.

Since my mother has Parkinson's Disease I decided that I would step up the challenge by logging in Charity Miles every day until, I cross the ING Marathon finish for the Micheal J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. I decided that on the days I do not log in a run, I will log in a walk. For those of you looking for a way to stay fit but cannot find time, consider this, depending on the speed of your walk, whether you are carrying anything etc. you can cover one mile in 25 minutes or less. If you don't have time in the morning, do it later in the day. Set a side some time during a lunch break. Walk to run errands if you can instead of going in your car whenever you can. Get families, friends, co-workers, into the action. The app is FREE and remember #EveryMileMatters.

Singing in the rain or shine, tired or not, I am enjoying skipping the bus and walking home from the train. For Mom :)

 

 

Walk Don't Run

When you are a child you are often yelled at to "Walk!" "Don't Run!" by parents, teachers and other adult, guardian figures. Do we ever listen. No! We just walk by them very cooley then book to a fall and cry, to hear the four dreaded words, "I told you so!"

When the foot surgeon removed the sutures on the bottom of my foot last week and told me that I needed to wait 2 more weeks before she would give me the okay to run again, for a split second a part of me thought, "Maybe, just maybe, if I am up to it I can jog just a little tinny bit." "Not much just a quarter or half a mile." "No biggie." "No harm." "No foul." I would come back in 2 weeks and all would still be okay. Right? Ehhh...Wrong!

I remembered the times I did not listen to my doctors' recommendations and started to run sooner than later only to, 1) prolong the amount of physical therapy I needed to recover or 2) sustain another injury which lead back to #1.

I often found myself impatient and in a rush to get back in shape so I would not miss a race because I signed up for it 2 months earlier and the fee was not refundable. Yes, looking back I see how bloody silly it was of me. I am not a professional athlete, running is not putting bread and butter on my table, what was I so worried and stressing about. There is always another race.

But, we are living in an ultra competitive society, no longer just a competitive one, where we obsess about being on the top of our game in everything we do. Encouraged to go the extra mile, give 110% effort by our family, friends, colleagues and all. For our personal satisfaction, for bragging rights, for or in the memory of a loved one and other untold reasons, we all want to be Supermen and Supergirls instead of Clark Kents and Lois Lanes.

I have made peace with being a Lois Lane. She does alright for herself. Between a horrible cold, this time of year there is always some bug or two spreading viruses on their rounds across NYC, snow and rainy days and my foot surgery, it will be almost 2 months that I go without running. If I follow the Doctor's order this time I will have just one month to train for my first half, and if I can't squeeze time to run during business trips coming up even less, perhaps only 3.

What about walking? Walking. What a novel idea. Yes, we were born to run, but hello we were born to walk too! I had forgotten how much I used to love going on long walks to get out of it what I was getting from running; a time to commune with my environment, a quiet time to reflect, clear my head, a dual body and mind workout. Sometimes alone, others in good company.

So this Saturday I enjoyed a 4-mile walk with some members of a women's running team I organize J.K.O. Running, including my daughter and it was absolutely great. By the end of the power walking and my attempts at practicing proper race walking techniques (it is really much harder than it looks), I realized that I had gotten a really good workout.

Runners often talk about cross training by swimming and cycling and doing different exercises, using elliptical devices, etc. Shins do get stronger from walking and so do your feet as you are using the whole sole (heel to toes) and not just 3/4ths of it as you do when you run or sprint (especially if you are barefoot or wearing minimalist footwear- a topic for another day).

It may take time to complete a course if you walk and don't run, and, everyone is just so damn pressed for time these days, but every once in a while it is good to slow down and take a break to smell the roses. So I am going to make a point of making time to walk once a week, even when I am told to run.

The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; 

walk and be healthy. 

The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose.

- Charles Dickens