Get Moving Challenge Participants Take 1 Billion Steps
Winners announced in competition that saw participants log 3 million exercise minutes
The participants in this year’s Get Moving Challenge walked enough steps combined to get to the moon and back, and still have enough in the tank for a detour.
Together, Duke employees and students walked 1,056,018,150 steps, exercised 3,366,292 minutes and lost 3,535 pounds. Considering it takes an average of 2,000 steps to walk a mile, Get Moving participants walked 528,009 miles. According to NASA, the moon is an average of 238,855 miles from Earth.
“I am very proud of everyone’s hard work and dedication in making this year’s Get Moving Challenge such an overwhelming success,” said Nick Beresic, health promotion manager for LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke’s employee wellness program and Get Moving organizer.
This year’s 10-week Get Moving Challenge, which began in January, drew 341 teams and 3,288 participants. Individual and team winners were declared in each of the following categories: average number of steps, exercise minutes and percentage of weight lost.
Get your steps in
A team of surgeons took home the title for highest average number of steps taken in the team category. “Surgery-GenSurg-The Lactated Ringers” logged an average of 1,159,403 steps.
Morgan Cox, house staff member in the General Surgery Residency Program and team leader, said her group was fueled by competition. Each team member ran five to seven days a week, walked their dogs and got in steps during the workday by walking around the Duke Health campus.
“We had a big group text chain to keep each other posted on how we were getting our steps in,” Cox said. “We’d try to fill in little 10-minute breaks by walking up and down steps or taking a lap around the hospital.”
Charon Thomason, a patient service associate in Duke Children’s Hospital, was the individual winner with 3,860,060 total steps.
Thomason started her day off at 5 a.m. by getting a 45 minute a walk in. She would then head to the gym to fit in more time on the treadmill and elliptical. During the work day, she took breaks and walked around the Children’s Hospital and Duke Medicine Pavilion.
A self-described fast walker, Thomason tried to get in at least 12 miles worth of steps in daily.
“I want to instill in my life the habit of exercising,” Thomason said. “Once I started keeping up this fast pace I couldn’t stop. It was encouraging to see my name near the top of the leaderboard.”
Count your exercise minutes
Cara Gambill took home the title for most minutes of exercise for an individual with 24,182 minutes. Gambill, a physician assistant at Duke Orthopaedics, was last year’s champion for most steps and exercise minutes.
Gambill started this year’s Get Moving Challenge in January with a 55-mile hike in the Patagonia region of Chile over five days.
“You basically hike from one beautiful lake to a glacier or a mountain,” she said. “Every day brought new, beautiful scenery.”
After Gambill returned from vacation, she bookended each day with a walk or run. She tried to get about 20 to 30 miles worth of steps in every day. Gambill was also part of the Get Moving team, “Page Road.” Page Road came in first in the team category for the average number of exercise minutes with 6,899.
Gambill promised a pizza party if they won.
“The Get Moving Challenge always comes at a great time because it encourages you to start the year off being active,” she said. “The fact we’re all trying is great.”
Weight loss
Michelle Coleman set a New Year’s resolution to live healthier. She was determined to lose weight but didn’t realize how well she was doing until coworkers started to congratulate her on leading the Get Moving Challenge.
Coleman lost 16.8 percent of her body weight, totaling 38 pounds, to win the individual title for most percentage weight lost in the competition.
“Creating a healthier version of me is something I’m very committed to this year,” said Coleman, an administrative manager with Duke Clinical Research Institute. “My support system at work helped kick start this process.”
Coleman began her new fitness plan by cutting most carbs and taking two walks daily. She took breaks to walk a friend’s dog or walk with coworkers in or around the downtown DCRI office building.
“Starting the year off with this success is perfect,” she said. “Having the Get Moving Challenge was such great motivation.”
Team “Rheum Racers,” a group of staff and faculty within the Rheumatology and Immunology Division, had the highest average percentage of weight lost, dropping 4.4 percent of weight per person. Rheum Racers won the team category for weight loss percentage.
What’s your Get Moving Challenge success story? Share it with us.