Health Happenings is a biweekly column published in Alamogordo Daily News as a way to provide the latest in health and wellness information, services and events. Articles for this column are submitted by Health Council partners, but do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Otero County Community Health Council.
by Allen Stenger
“Walking isn’t a lost art: one must, by some means, get to the garage.” Walking may be more of a lost art today than it was in the 1940s when Evan Esar wrote those words. According to U.S. Department of Transportation data, in 1969 about 42% of American children aged 6-12 walked or biked to school, while in 2001 only 16% did.
The Mayo Clinic says that walking is “safe, simple, doesn’t require practice, and the health benefits are many,” including lowering your blood pressure, reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes, and managing your weight. Many health advocates are working on ways to make walking fashionable again. The local group Otero County Walkability Advocacy Group (OWAG), along with the Otero County Community Health Council’s Diabetes Education and Prevention Coalition, Cottonwood Christian Fellowship, Boys & Girls Club, Otero PATH – Walk Otero, City of Alamogordo, and the Otero County Extension Office have been working to make Alamogordo a more pedestrian-friendly city. OWAG will hold a Walk Out West pedestrian and family safety walk as part of the Cottonwood Christian Fellowship Kids Karnival at Alameda Park Zoo on April 17. The event begins with a 2-mile walk through the park starting at noon, followed by other family outdoor exercises throughout the afternoon. The regular walking path is not completely accessible, so there will be a special accessible walk at the same time so that persons with disabilities can participate.
Ciclovia (pronounced seek-lo-VEE-ah) is a Spanish word that literally means “bike path.” Ciclovia is a form of outdoor exercise that originated in Bogota, Colombia in 1974. Each Sunday the city blocks 75 miles of streets to motorized traffic, and the people take to the streets to run, walk, bike, and do aerobics. The ciclovia idea has spread to many cities around the world. Las Cruces runs a ciclovia every month in Young Park and hopes to expand to a weekly ciclovia soon. Las Cruces activities include biking, walking, dance, Wii, Bungee Run, aerobics, weight training and more.
Opinions are divided on whether closing streets is essential to ciclovia. Bogota was forced to close streets when it started, because it had almost no public parks at that time. They have since built many parks, but the ciclovia is so popular, with two million of the city’s seven million residents taking part each Sunday, that they still would not fit in the parks. Unlike Bogota, Alamogordo has always had plenty of park space. Alameda Park was one of the first things built in the city and dates to 1898; it is a long, narrow park that runs along White Sands Boulevard from Tenth Street to Indian Wells. Washington Park is even longer, running between First Street and Indian Wells and between Oregon and Washington and partly east of Washington. Building a Trail System
The City of Alamogordo has a several-year project to construct a multipurpose ADA-accessible recreational trail system that will eventually span the entire city. A segment of the trail system that runs the length of Washington Park is substantially complete, and runs from First and Cuba across from the high school, then through Washington Park to Oregon Elementary School, and then continues west along Indian Wells to White Sands. The trail system does not run through Alameda Park yet, but there is a sidewalk and an access road that together run the length of the park. This is the path used for walks held at the park, such as the mini-ciclovia, the Lions Strides diabetes-awareness walk at Earth Day, and Walk Out West.
Is most of your walking to the garage? Then walk, run, or even drive to the Cottonwood Christian Fellowship Kids Karnival and OWAG Walk Out West walk at Alameda Park on April 17. Walk registration begins at 11:00 am and the walk starts at noon. There will be commemorative tee-shirts to the first 100 participants.