Challenge yourself and your colleagues to good health. Take a walk outside this fall and log in your steps for the second year of WALKTOBER.
Healthy Monday and the Department of Recreation Services host this month-long initiative and competition that encourages students, faculty and staff to step outside and hit the paths. Healthy Monday is an initiative through the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at the Maxwell School.
WALKTOBER welcomes walkers, runners, rollers, hikers and joggers from Syracuse University, SUNY Upstate, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Crouse Hospital and the Syracuse VA Medical Center.
Participants are asked to keep track of their distance each week and are encouraged to challenge themselves with weekly goals. The most active participants will receive special prizes at an awards ceremony.
Participants can register individually or as a team. Registration can be completed online through Sunday, Sept. 28,at 11:59 p.m.
Registration will also take place at the Kick-Off Event on Monday, Sept. 29, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Shaw Quad, where participants will receive WALKTOBER passports and pedometers. A Monday Mile walk will leave from the Quad at 12:30 p.m.
Participants walk the upstate loop during last year’s Walktober event.
A link to log in miles will be sent to registrants by email after completing the Registration Form.
If registrants are unable to attend the Kick-Off event, times and locations will be posted for pickup of passports and pedometers. Email healthymonday@syr.edu for questions.
Beginning with the walk at the Kick-Off Event, there will be weekly Monday Mile walks at 12:30 p.m. at the following Monday Mile loops:
Sept. 29: Syracuse University Loop (Kick-Off Event)
Oct. 6: SUNY Upstate Downtown Loop
Oct. 13: Thornden Park Loop
Oct. 20: Irving/Comstock Loop
Oct. 27: Syracuse University Loop
New to this year’s WALKTOBER festivities is a #WalktoberSU photo contest for SU students on Instagram. To participate, students can take a photo of themselves holding Healthy Monday’s customized Walktober bumper sticker and post it onto their Instagram account with the hashtag #WalktoberSU.
The Healthy Monday campaign will re-post the photos, and whichever photo receives the most “likes” will win a prize each week. Bumper sticker locations will be announced on the Healthy Monday website and on its Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/1508526289391162/.
WALKTOBER will again feature the RUN Scared Halloween Fun Run/Walk on Monday, Oct. 27, at 5 p.m., beginning on the Quad. Participants are encouraged to dress up and come with family and friends.
A costume contest, spooky one-mile walk/roll or two-mile run/roll are a few of the events that will take place. Register to participate at the Recreation Services website.
Wrapping up the month-long initiative will be the Walktober Awards Ceremony, which will take place on Monday, Nov. 10, from noon-1 p.m. in Room 500 Hall of Languages.
For more information, visit http://healthymonday.syr.edu/index.html or email questions to healthymonday@syr.edu with the subject line WALKTOBER.
