Source: NewsObservor

By Joe Miller, Staff Writer

If Susan Peoples and Margie Blank just wanted to socialize, they could catch up all they want at the Friday night Scrabble potluck at their North Raleigh condo complex. But both are avid walkers, and three years ago they saw an opportunity to marry hoofing and hobnobbing.

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“We talk, we cut up, we laugh,” says Peoples, who is 65 and started walking laps at Shelley Lake with co-workers 20 years ago.

“It’s very good for your health,” says Blank, 78. “You have to walk!”

Their walk-’n'-talk arrangement isn’t new, but it’s becoming increasingly popular, based on a scan of local parks and recreation fall program guides. Peoples and Blank, for instance, were participating two weeks ago in Raleigh Parks and Recreation’s Capital City Striders program, a “self-directed” walk Friday mornings at the Laurel Hills Community Center for walkers 55 and older.

If the weather’s nice, they walk the center’s paved nature trail. If it’s not, they walk laps in the gym.

Such group gym walks are becoming especially popular. Offered at numerous community centers in the Triangle, the walks generally are informal and held first thing in the morning, before programs get under way.

Woody Harvey, director of Fuquay-Varina’s Parks and Recreation Department, says people still prefer to walk the one-third-mile outdoor track at the town’s Community Center.

“But if it gets real hot, they like the air conditioning,” Harvey says. “We’ll get five or 10 people on a hot morning.”

The city of Raleigh offered some of the first walking programs in the area, typically informal weekly affairs held at local parks. The city still has those — the aforementioned Capital City Striders, Walking for a Good Reason at Lions Park and Weekly Walkers, at various locations around town.

But Raleigh also has capitalized on growing awareness of walking as one of the best ways for the non-athletically inclined to stay fit.

(Quick stats: 88.9 million Americans walk for exercise, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, making it the most popular form of exercise; walking decreases the risk of heart attack, helps in weight management, boosts so-called “good” cholesterol, controls blood pressure and reduces risk of breast cancer and type 2 diabetes, among other benefits.)

Last year, Raleigh launched a more aggressive, focused walking program, the Senior/Adult 10-Week Walking Program offered in conjunction with AARP, Rex Health Care and the National Recreation and Park Association.

“The goal,” says Carmen Rayfield with Raleigh Parks & Rec, “was to get people to incorporate walking into their daily routine.”

Each person in the program set a personal goal — lose weight, lower blood pressure, feel less stressed — but overall, the goal was to get people walking for 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

The group dynamic — participants met in groups ranging from a handful to nearly 60 in Garner — helped keep people with the program.

“If someone didn’t show up for a walk,” says Rayfield, “the walk leader would give them a follow-up call to see how they were doing.”

Did folks cotton to the more structured approach?

“We were expecting 300, maybe 350 to sign up,” Rayfield said. “We had over 600 register.”

The abundance of walking programs throughout the Triangle makes them convenient. And the lack of special equipment makes it a cheap way to stay fit.

“I have walking shoes,” Margie Blank said, stopping briefly to draw attention to her feet, “but these are cheaper and more comfortable. The walking shoes are in the closet.”

joe.miller@newsobserver.com or 812-8450

Diversity Inc

Sept. 11 is a difficult day for most Americans, but for June Dyer, Sept. 11 is especially painful. It is the anniversary of the day she nearly died in the World Trade Center.

“It’s not an easy day,” says Dyer. “It is definitely a day that means something.”

On September 11, 2001, Dyer, 56, was rushing to catch the subway with her daughter Dennine in tow. Dyer was upset because Dennine was moving slowly and she was worried she’d be late to work.

Dyer worked at Aon Risk Services on the 92nd floor of 2 World Trade Center, where the company employed approximately 1,100 people and occupied floors 92 and 98 to 105. Dyer, who normally took the subway with Dennine and made sure her daughter got on her transfer line, was so unhappy that morning that she forgot to tell Dennine she loved her before the two parted ways.

She arrived at her desk just before 8:46 a.m., the time American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the north face of 1 World Trade Center. She heard a loud explosion, felt the building shake and saw a “huge ball of fire.” People ran to the windows and one man said an airliner flew into the building.

“People looked out the window but I didn’t because I’m not good with heights,” says Dyer. “I started crying. I knew it wasn’t an accident because people always saw little Cesna planes flying below our floor at around the 60th- to 70th-floor levels … and as soon as he said it was a 747, I thought, ‘jihad.’”

Dyer, being a subway commuter, always wore her walking shoes to work and changed into pumps at the office. She took off her pumps, put on her walking shoes, grabbed her purse and walked to the stairs. “I knew I was walking down,” says Dyer.

Most people stayed in the office. One coworker said it wasn’t 2 World Trade Center, not to worry. “I thought, ‘You have to be crazy,’” says Dyer. “But the majority of people in the office didn’t leave. The stairs were not crowded … for the most part, I walked down by myself.”

On the way down, a person from another floor stuck his head in the stairwell and invited Dyer and a few others to rest. Dyer asked where the restroom was but decided it was too far to leave the stairwell. Some people stopped on that floor. Dyer continued.

When Dyer reached the 60th floor, the building shuddered, shook and swayed. United flight 175 hit 2 World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m. between floors 78 and 85. Had Dyer stayed in her office, she could have been trapped.

“I held on to the rails and sat down. It was that bad,” says Dyer. “It pushed the building. I remember there was a guy who said it was a big plane and ran upstairs. I screamed at him. I knew the stairs were made of steel, whereas floors were like pancakes–one over the other–so I was not leaving the stairs. I remember praying two words: ‘My children.’”

She remembers a split second of peace entering her mind and thinking there was nothing she could do. “For that split second, I committed myself to God and that was it,” says Dyer.

Then the building stopped swaying and people in the stairwell gathered their courage and encouraged others to continue down, Dyer says. But her emotions took over. She started to panic. She couldn’t stop crying. Her feet dragged and two men helped her down the stairs.

“I thought, ‘Nothing is wrong with you. You’re getting in the way of others trying to get out safe and if you’re going to get out safe you have to take control of yourself,’” says Dyer.

She stopped and told the men helping her she was OK. One stayed with her and she stopped crying. The two of them continued down the stairs.

It was between the 14th and 10th floors that the people in the stairwell started talking about the explosions. She still hadn’t seen anything except for a flash from the initial ball of fire. The man who was helping her down said that before he started walking down the stairs, he called home to ask what the news was reporting. His dad told him about the second plane. He hung up and looked out his office window to see the wreckage. He saw a body fly down.

The two finally made it to the ground floor and Dyer invited him to go with her to her old job nearby. She was going to get water, use the restroom, get a taxi and go home. Dyer gave him her home number and he gave her his business card, and they separated.

On 2 World Trade Center’s ground floor, police directed the evacuees to the exits. Dyer wanted to exit onto Broadway and walk to her old job. But she was directed to exit elsewhere. Had she exited at Broadway, she would have seen the bodies of the people who had jumped from the building, she says.

She did see a body falling. “I heard the crowd roar and I looked and saw a body, but the height the person jumped from was so high the body looked like a match stick,” says Dyer.

She walked into her old job just before 10 a.m. While she was there, 2 World Trade Center collapsed. Dyer and some of her friends started to walk toward the Brooklyn Bridge but were directed to the Manhattan Bridge instead. As Dyer walked, Manhattan businesses along the way handed out water and food, maintenance workers handed out wet cloths, shoe stores handed out shoes, and stores with face masks handed them out.

“The crowd was moving at a crawl,” says Dyer. “Everyone was walking and the place was covered in dust that was like powder. It was not grains. It was not pebbles. It came down as powder. But as bad as it was, you really saw a totally different side of humanity. People really came out and showed that they care.”

On the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge, a crowd of people welcomed the evacuees. People hugged strangers when they reached Brooklyn and gave them water and food.

“Overall I felt I was safe because Manhattan was the place where you didn’t know what was going to happen,” says Dyer.

A week later, Aon held a companywide memorial service. Dyer remembers feeling joy when she saw someone she knew and overwhelming sadness when she saw the pictures of people who didn’t make it. Aon lost 176 employees.

Dyer doesn’t remember the name of the man who helped her walk down the flight of stairs. He called once and talked to her husband and they called each other for two of the 9/11 anniversaries.

She’ll never forget that day, though. Nor will she ever forget to tell her family how much she loves them.

“Yes, it is definitely a different day,” says Dyer. “It reminds me of what everything means to me.”

BlackPRWire

Contact Information
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photo credit: .michael.newman.

( BLACK PR WIRE) ( September 6, 2008) Due to the overwhelming number of overweight and obese African Americans, Many African American women hope to achieve the quest for health and fitness this New Years. According to the American Obesity Association, African American women have the highest prevalence of overweight (78%) and obese (50.8%) individuals in the United States. The factors that contribute to this startling statistic are socioeconomic factors, cultural expectations and lack of diets and adequate exercise. African American women have become accepting of having larger body sizes and tend to practice unhealthy eating and exercising behaviors. While regular exercise is not a part of the lifestyle for many African American women there are alternates that can be done besides joining a gym or spending long hours lifting weights and working out. Below is a list of items that if followed carefully will promote health, prevent disease, prolong life expectancy and provide you with the gift of fitness for the New Year.

Walk regularly
Put on a pair of walking shoes and take it to the street. Walking is a good start when you take on the task of getting in shape because walking does not put the same strain on your knees and legs like running. Walking will help your lungs function better, help you sleep better, have more energy and help reduce stress. Taking a 30 minute walk daily will also significantly assist you in your quest to loose weight and become more physically fit

Eat healthy
In order to gain physical fitness you also have to change your eating habits and commit to a healthier eating lifestyle. Include more fruit and vegetables in your diet while decreasing red meats, pizza, ham hocks, potato chips and junk foods. When you first begin your healthy eating lifestyle it will be very difficult in the beginning. But once you develop self control you will quickly see the advantages of filling your body with healthy items

Drink water regularly
In order to achieve physical fitness stardom your need to drink six to eight glasses of water daily to clean the body of any toxins and waste. Drinking water regularly also acts as an appetite suppressant. Alcohol, sodas, and other sugar based drinks have long been known as some of the leading causes of obesity. By removing these items from your daily lifestyle you are assuring yourself and your family members that you will have a long and healthy life.

Find support from family and friends
Many people loose weight easier when they involve family and friends. When you begin to commit to eating healthy and working out have your friends and family commit with you. Surround yourself with people who can relate to your struggle and who will be able to encourage you on the days you feel like giving up. Reward yourself as you travel down the road to health and fitness. Set a goal for yourself and as you accomplish those goals provide yourself with periodic treats such as new clothes, new shoes or even a total makeover. As the pounds melt off you will also be rewarded by the increasing number of compliments and encouragement you’ll receive from family and friends.

The most rewarding gift you can give to someone who cares about you or that you care about is the gift of health. This gift assures the people you care about that you’ll be around for many years to share in the joys that life offers. This year give someone you care about the gift of health and fitness.