100 Miles in 100 Days Challenge

The Highland County Recreation Commission has released its calendar of activities for the year, and it includes new events and challenges. Commission Chair Laura Honaker talked about the first of these, the 100 Miles in 100 Days Challenge.

“Well, the Recreation Commission is always looking for new ways to engage county residents, and activities that promote physical activity and general overall wellness and active lifestyles, and we’re really excited to bring this program. The premise of the program is it challenges you to move 100 miles over 100 days. These can be any form of human powered movement, whether it be walking, running, cycling, kayaking – it just needs to be outside your daily routine. It’s not a contest, it’s just a challenge, so it’s really up to you to see how many miles you can walk and challenge yourself.

While much of the mileage will be solo activities, the Commission has planned several group activities which count toward the challenge.

“So there are four specific events that are included with the registration – the first one is on April 23^rd at 10:00. It’s a kick-off event, will be at the Highland County Pool Complex. The Highland Medical Center will be there to give health education, and also provide BMI measurements, so you can track if your workouts are having effect over the course of 100 days. And we’re going to have a group walk, where you can walk your first mile with fellow participants, and everyone who attends this event is going to be registered to win a FitBit.

“The second event is on May 20^th, it’s a Tavern Walk, at 5:30 – we’ll meet at the HCRC Pool Complex, and walk through the town of Monterey to the Black Sheep Tavern, where you can receive a complimentary nutritious snack, and we invite participants to bring nutritious recipes that they like to share with other people who come.

“The third event is on June 18^th – this is a community summer kick-off. This is a way to celebrate the arrival of summer, the end of school. We’re going to have booth from all different local organizations, to talk about what they’re offering in the summer. We’ll have a bouncy house for kids, field day events, cornhole, horseshoes, and again the Highland medical center will be there to provide health education, and participate in a group walk or swim, the pool will be open after 12:00 on that day.

“And the final event is a finale on July 31^st at the pool complex. We’ll have one final walk around the Highland Community Walking Trail, followed by a Pot luck, and we encourage folks to bring nutritious dishes that they like to eat at home to share, and we can share the total miles that everyone walked, so we see how much we’ve moved as a community, and we’ll have a final prize drawing.

“We have different options for registration – you can either choose to register with or without receiving a t-shirt. The cost without a t-shirt is $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. This includes a rubber wristband that you can wear to show your commitment to a healthy lifestyle throughout these 100 days, a pedometer, all the health education and body mass index measurements provided by the Highland Medical Center, entry into weekly prize drawings, admission to all the 100 Miles in 100 Days Challenge events. And you can also choose to get an event t-shirt, and the cost to sign up with a t-shirt is $20 for adults and $15 for children under 12, and it includes all the same things, with the addition of an event t-shirt.

“Registration information is available on our website at highlandcountyrecreation.org or by calling 540-468-2978.”