Danka Walks
By Taylor Gills, Graduate Nutrition Student, Sargent College
Typically at the Sargent Choice Nutrition Center we’re focused on food. As a group that is made up primarily of Dietitians and Nutrition students, it makes sense that we talk about cooking, eating, and enjoying food all the time. Today though, we’re going to touch upon another component of an overall healthy lifestyle: exercise.
552 days, 3 pairs of sneakers (and a pair of winter boots), 3 pedometer batteries, and 5,225 miles later Danka Charland has surpassed her original goal of walking the distance to San Francisco and is well on her way to her ultimate goal of walking to her hometown of Borzestowo, Poland. Danka is currently the Assistant to the Director in the Human Physiology and Applied Anatomy and Physiology Programs here at Sargent College. On March 17, 2010 Danka strapped on her new pedometer, got a little help from her Sargent College coworkers to calibrate it correctly, and started recording every step. She has always lead an active lifestyle and walking was already a regular part of her day to day routine. Danka started using the pedometer because she thought it would be fun. The plan was to do it for a year or so and just see what happened, but Deb, a Sargent College coworker, put the idea of walking to San Francisco in her head.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, Danka reached 3,179 miles (the driving distance from Boston to San Francisco) after just 344 days of recording her steps. After this goal was reached, she decided she should walk the distance from San Francisco to her hometown in Poland, another 7,914 miles, via a route through Alaska and Russia. About 50 miles of this route, through the Bering Strait, is technically under water, but it was land at one point right? At day 552, she is currently a little less than half way towards achieving the total distance from Boston to Borzestowo, 11,093 miles. Over this time, she has averaged over 9 miles each day, with some days walking less and some days walking more than that. One day she actually did 28.2 miles, or 59,566 steps, just to challenge herself! For a frame of reference, the Surgeon General recommends taking 10,000 steps each day to reduce your risk of long-term disease.
What keeps her going above and beyond? According to Danka, she is motivated mostly by the goals that she sets, but also from the health benefits of walking. Danka feels that the pedometer itself is a motivator, helping her to challenge herself; she says, “If I set a goal and don’t achieve it, I fail to myself.” Danka also likes to have fun with walking. She will listen to music, learn French from tapes, go shopping, take pictures, explore new places, and she even graded papers while walking once. According to Danka “weather is a state of mind,” so if she expects bad weather, she will get up early to beat the weather, or just go out and walk in the rain or snow and enjoy the fact that not many other people are around. This level of self-motivation coupled with her easygoing nature is amazing to see and should be an inspiration to everyone around her. Danka estimates that she will reach the distance to her hometown in Poland by July 15, 2013, by averaging about 9 miles per day. Her plan to stay on target comes down to one word, a word that Danka loves, “stick-to-itiveness,” or the ability to literally stick to it, when striving to reach a goal.