Today, April 7th, has been designated "
National Start Walking Day" by the
American Heart Association. National Start Walking Day is part of their "Start Walking!" program to encourage people to lower their risk of heart disease by incorporating more exercise into their daily routine. Walking won't just help protect you from heart disease either. According to a study cited by the
American Cancer Society, walking just 2 and 1/2 hours a week can lower your risk of developing breast cancer by up to 18%!
Now, as
a 3 Day walker preparing for an event in late July, I already walk a lot. But I wanted to mark the day by doing something to hopefully encourage others to get out and start walking. On today's walk, Shenanigans and I braved the current pollen storm here in Atlanta in order to document one of the highlights of our training walks: the beautiful flowering trees and bushes around Atlanta. They may have brilliant fall foliage in New England, but here in the South, we celebrate spring with flowers!
Please enjoy this sampling of some of the pictures that I took on my five mile training walk around Midtown Atlanta this afternoon. If you would like to see more pictures from this walk, please see
this album on my Picasa page. To see my daffodil pictures from a March training walk, please visit
this post.
The only downside to all of these gorgeous flowers? The pollen counts are off the charts in Atlanta right now!
If looking at these pictures has inspired you to do some planting around your house, please consider supporting Relentless Optimism by purchasing some (or all!) of your garden plants through our collaboration with Flower Power fundraising. You can find all of the details on
our team fundraising blog.
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