Are you thinking of doing the Moonwalk in 2010?

I know, it happens in May and it's only September but as someone who has trained for long walks and someone who has trained others for long walks, taking the time to do it properly brings benefits.

All this has come about because a friend has asked me to work with her on getting her fit for 2010's Mooonwalk. We discussed that it would be more fun if more people get involved as then the training is never lonely and people can support each other especially in between the sessions I do with them.

So if you are thinking of doing it or know someone who is and if you or they live in East London/Essex then get them to call me on 020 8220 6919 or 07941 246619 so we can chat and discuss how this works.

Training will probably not start until Nov or Dec but I just want to get the word out and let people know that there's help and support.

Sometimes a task this size can render you paralysed as it's so big so we just need to break it down into chunks and take one step at a time.

Last year I trained Gill and Elaine and this is what they had to say -

" We felt that we had reached the time in our lives where we needed a challenge. Nothing so simple as a half marathon walk, no we decided to go for the big one 26miles to be exact
The Moonwalk!

We contacted Heather who undertook the task of training us both and we have had the experience of our lives. We thought that doing 26 miles was going to be easy, after all, it's just walking, and we would not have to do any training, how wrong we were. The training started gradually and is now more intense as the walk approaches.

Heather has given us so much information, help and advice on how to approach a walk of this length. Without this we would not be at the standard we are at present. We walk with Heather's walking group, the East End Girls who made us very welcome are looking forward to the Moonwalk now. And who knows this year London
next year New York!!!!

We would recommend anyone who wants to achieve a goal like us to contact Heather as soon as possible, you will love every minute."

- Elaine Aldridge and Gill Judah

Culham to Oxford on the Thames Path

You who are regular readers will know that the East End Girls (EEG) have been walking the Thames Path National Trail - http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Thamespath/

We tend to walk it during the longer days as it takes us a while to get to our starting point so we've decided, having got to Oxford, that we'll stop now and do the last 4 sections, where there is no public transport, apart from the end, next year. It may indeed take some time to organise transportation, accommodation etc anyhow.

Our walk on August 22nd saw a small but elite group of the original East End Girls step out from Culham railway station which is 1.5 miles from the Thames and the start of the walk. This was easier to do at the start than at the end as we'd had to do last time. Again, we were blessed with wonderful walking weather so plenty of sunscreen and water.

The first little bit of the walk took us first to Culham Lock where you can see the group posing in the shade and then to Abingdon which I hadn't been in for years. At this point we chose to leave the river for a little while and find somewhere to have coffee and go to the loo. Taking advantage of loo stops is something you learn quickly when walking as you never quite know when the next one will be.

Back on the river and at Abingdon Weir, we saw a coot on it's next with a young chick, not a very clear photo but so lovely to see. At this point there were also interesting grasses and the most unappealing picnic spot I've seen for a long time. The view wasn't bad as long as you looked into the distance.

Lots of long boats, lots of people cycling and walking the path, picnics happening and general business of an English summer in wonderful surroundings.

It seems terrible to say but parts of the river on this section, we found somewhat boring and repetitive. The paths weren't the best looked after and were also very narrow and rutted making walking difficult but then again, we've done so many great walks I think we are rather spoiled.

There were always wonderful boat houses though - don't think I've ever found as many as on the Thames.

It was good to get towards Oxford where there was more activity and more variety in scenery.

This beautiful building was on the River Path and looks as if it once was or still is some kind of a religious building

Looking forward to getting to the source when the time is right.

Keeping on the move.

I've done my East End Girl walks through the summer and did some wonderful exploring of new walks too as well as some client 'walk and talk' sessions but I have to admit that my early morning walking has been rather hit and miss.

I do miss that energetic start to the day so come Sept 1st I started them up again and already 3 days in I feel so much better, so much more energised and therefore more able to tackle the work load that has now come back into my life. I've been making a real effort to power walk and arrive home really hot and sweaty and knowing that I've had a bit of a workout, it makes me feel really great.

If you are aware that you need to get moving more then don't worry too much about the 'hot and sweaty' at the start, just aim to get out there more. There's a wide choice of exercise available but if you're not a swimmer, not into the gym, not a team player and find it hard to attend a class then perhaps walking is for you.

According to research from the Centre of Inflammation and Metabolism in Copenhagen it's the small bouts of activity throughout the day that protect our body from disease. They found that even slight reductions in activity levels quickly added up the chances of age related disease such as heart disease and diabetes.

So what can you do? It's really quite simple:-

• take the stairs instead of the lift.



• walk instead of drive for short journeys



• get off transport a stop earlier and walk



• don't email colleagues in the same building, go and visit them



• take up dancing with friends and make an evening of it



• meet friends for a walk and then have a coffee



• dance around the house



• use your kids trampoline



• get on the kids wii



• put more effort into the housework



• join a walking group



• get a pedometer, it's a great motivational tool

I'm sure there are loads more ideas but these will get you started and don't forget small amounts, you don't have to commit to hours of activity at any one time. Have fun.