May is National Walking month, so this week I’ve been completing the #Try20 Challenge by Living Streets, in which I’m trying to walk 20 minutes every day through May. They even have #Try20 tips which reinforce our MoveMore More Tips, including having walking meetings, take a romantic promenade and walking to work.

British Heart Foundation are asking people to plan a sponsored walk to raise money. Get the whole family involved in the following event:

”From Monday 16 May to Friday 20 May, why not Just Walk and take part in Walk to School Week. During this week, we’re asking teachers, parents and children to put their best foot forward and challenge themselves to walk to school each day, whilst raising money for our life saving research.”

We’ve got our own Walking Challenge at MoveMore, if you complete 10,000 steps a day for a week, you get a free Canterbury Christ Church Spots T-shirt! Simply email movemore@canterbury.ac.uk to get your steps tracking sheet and away you go!

Most phones have step tracking app’s or you can easily download them for free. As I was searching through my phone, I found the ‘Samsung Health’ app. In it, I can track my steps, weight, activity levels, even caffiene and water consumption. But the real reason I started walking so much this May, is because you can challenge your friends. I messaged friends and ‘challenged’ them to walk 10,000 steps faster than I can. I won firstly, then they re-challenged to 30,000 and I lost by (only!) 300 steps while frantically walking around Margate. Now it’s been upped to 50,000 steps and the competitive side of me won’t back down. So, in order to win my steps challenges, I started going on evening walks with my partner. We’ve been walking every evening and taking different routes each day, discovering lovely green places and public walkways we’ve never seen before, despite living in our current area for over a year.

As you can see, while I’ve been blogging, they have been walking. Time to go!

There are lots of ways in get involved in #WalkwithMay, on campus there are Wellbeing walks every Wednesday at 12:30, exploring areas of campus in new and enlightening ways. You can find more information on CCCU Sustainability‘s facebook events page. The next walk on Wednesday 10th May starts at the Yurt by the pond in the Quadrangle, NHR campus.

So however and whenever you see fit, try walking more in May to feel the benefits of a healthier lifestyle.