Walking Moais Foster Friendships and Achieve Health

July 22, 2009— -- Every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. like clockwork, Karen Trow is out walking three to four miles with seven like-minded women. They walk briskly along the trail for about two hours, chatting about what their children are doing, trips they're taking, and how to handle the occasional difficult child.

It's all part of belonging to a walking moai in Albert Lea in which six to eight people meet and walk regularly to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The walking moai is part of the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project, which helps people make changes to improve their health and life expectancy.

Click here to see the other ways Albert Lea, Minn., is changing for the healthier.

Trow, 66, who is one of the project's 30 volunteers, says interest in the walking moais has soared lately because "the weather's good, and we're doing a lot of promotion." The town has expanded the walking and biking trails, and the lake's location in the middle of the town is a draw, she says. Her neighborhood has three groups.

An initial meeting in June helped would-be walkers organize based on common backgrounds and interests. The groups were given a list of destinations to help them get going. The walking continues through early October before the weather turns colder, Trow says.

The AARP also outfitted 3,000 dedicated walkers with pedometers, which count their steps. They get credit for walking each week with their group and receive additional credit for walking with any one of their fellow moai members during the week. Each Sunday, Trow's group turns in their pedometers.

Walkers tend to be mostly women, and many have grown children. Some couples found couples to walk with from other neighborhoods, Trow says. Groups are on the small side so people get to know one another.

There's even one consisting of mostly working mothers with children who meet at 9:30 p.m. once a week, Trow says. With all of their responsibilities, some women find time to fit in walking, and when it's a stretch, it's common for them to help one another out. "For one of the women, sometimes they have to knock on her door to get her up to walk," Trow says.