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I've been quiet lately, mainly because I was preparing for the MoonWalk.
For those who are not aware of what it is, the MoonWalk is a walk organised by Walk The Walk, which is a charity focusing on breast cancer. Walk the Walk raises money to help other breast cancer charities focus on specific projects.
Once a year, they organise in London the MoonWalk, which is a 26.2 miles (42km) walk. You can also do half the distance. Throughout the year, you have all different walks around the UK, as well as around the world.
The trademark of Walk the Walk, is that people tend to walk in their bra to emphasize the message of breasts, and breast cancer. Every year, the walk has another theme and this year it was Walk on the Wild Side.
It all starts and finishes in Hyde Park in a big huge pink tent. My parents came to see us just before we entered the tent early evening to get ready for the walk, and were amazed to see how many people were participating. This year about 17000 people walked around the sites of London at night. The first group of walkers go out anywhere between 11-11:30pm. Most impressively was the 1 minute silence to all our loved ones who lost their battle to breast cancer. Followed by a hug to the person to your left and then right. A mad buzzing tent of 17000 people suddenly went totally silent. Whow, what a moment!
Until recently it was a woman's only event, however in the last few years, more and more men are participating, as they also want to walk in memory of some beloved ones they lost in their battle with breast cancer. Seeing a man walking around with a decorated bra, makes in my opinion the message even stronger. And we shouldn't forget that every year, some men suffer from breast cancer as well.
Some people walk because they lost someone to breast cancer, and some do it as a challenge or as part of their weight loss journey.
I heard people say that it can't be that hard, since it's only walking ! Well don't be fooled. Walking 26.2 miles takes anywhere between 6 and 10 hours of constant walking. Have you ever done that ?
To be able to do so, you have to train for about 3 months, and sometimes even more. And have 3 walking sessions a week, where one is the long walk, going up to about 20 miles if possible 2 weeks before the walk.
Hence, lots of people use it as part of their weight loss journey. It's low impact on the joints, and everyone can walk.
Just make sure you wear proper walking shoes that are adapted to your feet, break them in before the walk, and wear all clothes you are going to wear on the night before hand to make sure you won't get blisters or have minimal friction.
Interestingly enough, talking to people who ran a marathon before and walked it this time, all said the walk was much harder than the run. First of all because it happens at night, and secondly because of the number of hours you're on your feet.
Registration for next year opens somewhere early October. You can register your interest online and you will get an email with all the information on how to register and when. Remember, if you don't register on the first morning, you might miss out.
If you need help preparing for next year's challenge, contact me, Anne Iarchy, Personal Trainer North London, on 07880627944 or email me at anne@barnetpersonaltrainer.co.uk
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Posts: 2
Reply #2 on : Tue January 31, 2012, 17:33:27
Posts: 2
Reply #1 on : Sun January 29, 2012, 09:00:53