Walk the LibertyWalk

Patricia Carlberg

Have you considered getting in shape this summer? Perhaps your school schedule isn’t quite as stringent, or you find that your children are antsy and need exercise? Put the time to great use and do something like walking. You could prepare for a marathon for a good cause like “LibertyWalk 2008,” which will take place next spring.

LibertyWalk will march on Jan. 1, 2008, and marathoners will walk one mile for every word in the United States Constitution, which is 4,913 miles, adding up to 185 days, averaging out to be 26.5 miles a day. Marathoners will travel throughout Austin, Memphis, Tallahassee, Knoxville, Washington D.C., Indianapolis, Green Bay, Davenport and Springfield, and return back to Austin on the Fourth of July.

Participants can expect to walk in the symbol of a star across the entire United States and each lag of the star will represent one of the many issues that the United States is currently dealing with, including: Civil rights, veterans, peace, equality, poverty, education, the environment, constitutional rights and immigration. Awareness of the issues will be emphasized by educating people during the walk and holding small town meetings each night when participants complete daily walks. Cody Lunsford, founder and president of LibertyWalk, hopes that the marathon will pick up steam as it goes along and that more people will join and listen to its missions.

How can you get involved? You can meet the walkers at any of one of the host cities nearest your location, which in the case of Twin Cities’ residents would be Green Bay, which will kick off its rally day on May 3, 2008. In addition, LibertyWalk will be open to all recommendations of charities and/or organizations that support the projects they are walking for. For more information contact the LibertyWalk founders, Cody and Heather Lunsford, at (469) 569-5848 or get more information at http://www.libertywalk.org.

Here are some tips on how to prepare for a long walk: First, make sure you a consult a doctor to make sure that preparing for a walk won’t injure you. Once you’re committed, the first few months should focus on building up to regular walks of 20–60 minutes, five to six days a week and then slowly increasing the number of minutes you walk per week. About four to six weeks before the walk, you should increase your walk time to about two hours a day. Keep a diary to track of your walking habits and remember that training for a walk adds focus to your life and can give you a motivational boost.