From Grief to Strength in Get Moving Challenge

LIVE FOR LIFE’s annual fitness program inspired a Duke Clinical Nurse to log 1.9 million steps after her mother died

A graphic reads 'Get Moving Challenge' next to a running shoe
Get Moving Challenge had a record number of participants in 2025. Graphic by Paul Figuerado

Lutfiyyah Rasul wasn’t going to participate in the Get Moving Challenge this year. The annual LIVE FOR LIFE wellness challenge for Duke staff and faculty started in mid-January – just weeks after Rasul’s mother, Islah, died and she was still grieving.

“I’m the type of person where if I start something, I have to finish it,” Rasul said. “Even if it’s a really horrible book, I have to finish it. But I thought if I start Get Moving Challenge, there’s no way I’m going to be able to finish it with my emotions.”

Rasul, a Clinical Nurse, reconsidered her decision when her colleagues at Duke University Hospital’s Transfer Center formed a team.

And once she started walking, Rasul was glad she did.

“Walking in this challenge really has made me feel a lot of mental clarity,” Rasul said. “To me, it is an opportunity for me to relax and clear my mind. It’s almost like I’m meditating as I’m walking.

“I think I would have been in a really dark place if the Get Moving Challenge didn’t happen at the time my mom died because I don’t know if I would have gotten up to walk, I really don’t know.”

Lutfiyyah Rasul said this year's Get Moving Challenge helped her manage her grief after her mother died in December. Photo courtesy of Lutfiyyah Rasul

Rasul logged 1,926,869 steps over the 10-week fitness challenge aimed at encouraging staff and faculty to incorporate more movement at the start of each year. That total was enough for her to finish eighth in the individual rankings of the Get Moving Challenge. Caleb Wyninger, a Nuclear Medicine Technologist, totaled more than 4.2 million steps to claim this year’s overall individual title.

In all, 2,670 participants recorded more than 855 million steps and exercised for a combined 4.5 million minutes, said Sara Cathey, a Health Education Specialist for LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke’s employee wellness program.

In the team competition, 290 teams competed in silver, gold and platinum categories based on reported activity levels of participants and winners were crowned for both steps and exercise minutes. The top team in each category receives a prize package filled with LIVE FOR LIFE fitness gear and accessories.

For the first time, Get Moving Challenge teams had an option this year to challenge other teams via “Rivalries,” and 87 teams battled to best each other during the program.

“It’s cool that this program is helping people build a sense of community among their co-workers,” Cathey said. “They’re feeling encouraged to keep moving and they’re creating and writing their own story as they go – which I think is the most rewarding thing.”

For Rasul, participating in the challenge this year helped her manage her grief over the loss of her mother to breast cancer as she focused on moving and averaged 29,000 steps per day. During the times when she felt like she didn’t to walk, she heard her mom’s voice in her head telling her, “You can do it! You can do it!”

“I definitely would attribute probably 90% of how healthy my mind is to the Get Moving Challenge,” Rasul said. “I think we underestimate what our body does for our minds.”

That, Cathey said, is one of the goals of Get Moving Challenge.

“There's so much power in being able to move your body and move and grow through things that are in your life,” Cathey said. “I love the idea of getting moving and continuing to move forward and heal.”

Full list of 2025 Get Moving Challenge winners

Team Steps

Silver: Orchids in Bloom with 720,121 steps averaged

Gold: Crazy to NOT be Lazy with 877,890 steps averaged

Platinum: Surgery ADMINistriders with 1,465,746 steps averaged

Team Exercise Minutes

Silver: Divine Dukes with 2,980 minutes averaged

Gold: Crisis Averted! with 8,339 minutes averaged

Top Individual Steps and Exercise Minutes

1. Caleb Wyninger

2. Cara Gambill

3. Hana Jarrad

4. Melissa Teves

5. Margaret O'Connor

Have feedback or suggestions for next year’s Get Moving Challenge? Fill out this survey for LIVE FOR LIFE.

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