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Walk Across Williamson

Contact
County Health Department at 615-794-1542, ext. 5355
or 615-799-2389, ext. 112.

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If your resolutions for the new year include an ambitious program of walking, you can put your best foot forward at a series of events initiated by the Williamson County Health Council. The Council is coordinating a free program for Williamson County residents called Walk Across Williamson.

The walks are being held on the first Saturday of each month at different parks throughout the county. Walkers arrive between 9 and 10 a.m. at a participating park; the first 20 to walk in each month receive an incentive. The January incentives are two weeks of executive training at D1 Sports Training, located near Cool Springs Galleria.

Several parks support the program, including Bowie Nature Park,College Grove Park Nolensville Park, Jim Warren Park, Pinkerton Park, Thompson’s Station Park.

Walking program participants may take any trail within the participating parks. The walks are not guided, so walkers are advised to check park maps for routes. On April 5, Jim Warren Park will host the Walk Across Williamson Celebration. Peter Jenkins, author of the national bestseller A Walk Across America, will speak, and prizes (including an iPod Shuffle) will be given out to participants who have turned in walking logs.

Walking Trivia

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  • In 1921, on his 79th birthday, Dan O'Leary, a Chicago book salesman, walked 100 miles in 23 hours, 54 minutes.
  • In his 75 years as a long-distance walker, James Hocking of Teaneck, NJ covered over 270,000 miles, averaging over 10 miles a day.
  • Colonel Russell Farnum of New Hampshire, during the years 1812-13, walked from St. Louis to St. Petersburg (now Leningrad), a distance of 9,000 miles. He carried a 20-pound pack and a gun.
  • In 1887, John Snyder of Dunkirk, Ohio, walked 25,000 miles in 500 days and, when he finished, was "apparently no more tired than when he began."
  • Anton Hanislan, a European professional walker, pushed a perambulator holding his wife and daughter for 22 months over a distance of 15,000 miles, winning $2,000.
  • In 1966, Jean Pierre Marquant walked 102 miles through Death Valley, in temperatures ranging from 90 to 122 degrees. The walk took about a week; Marquant drank three gallons of fluid a day.
  • In 1941, a walking contest was staged between Finland and Sweden. The contest was to see how many competitors could walk about 10 miles at the rate of 4 miles an hour. Finland won by qualifying 1.4 million walkers, to Sweden's 1.1 million.

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