On March 30th I was privileged to complete my fourth Holland 50 Mile Kennedy March, this time representing the FreeWalkers. Five such walks in different locations qualify one to be a Master Kennedy Walker. I had hoped to take a free military flight from either Andrews Air Force Base or Baltimore -Washington International. Due to last minute commitments, however,  I boarded a commercial flight bound for Amsterdam. Just comfortably enough ensconced in an economy aisle seat to stretch…

If you are like me, this time of year I'm dreaming about vacation. This year I hope to get over to Italy and visit some of my wife's relatives and tour Rome.

But, there are an unlimited number of places to walk, some more famous than others. Last week, the New York Times published "Europe, in 9  Walks" a…

In Fort Lee, New Jersey cops are going undercover to catch drivers who are ignoring pedestrian crossings..

A crosswalk sting has been set up so a plain clothes cop approaches a crosswalk. If the driver fails to slow to allow the cop to another vehicle ahead pulls the  car over and issues a summons.

This town has a history of pedestrian enforcement problems in the past…

Be forwarned! Getting inspired is a mixed blessing.

Many of you already know that I was originally inspired to walk extremely long distances by the Kennedy brothers back in 1963. It was a message that they carried and a can-do attitude that anything was possible that caused me to try and walk 50-miles…

Do pedestrian walking speeds indicate a city's economic activity? It turns out there's a rather long history of research into the speed of walking in cities, and that the evidence suggests a strong connection between fleetness of foot and fatness of wallet.

For years a theory was held that the size and density of the population led to a "social…

No surprise here! But, some scary news.

Kids have a greater chance of being fatally injured by a car on Halloween than any other day of the year. State Farm®, the nation's leading auto insurer, teamed up with research…

An Australian study found adults who spends an average of six hours a day watching TV over the course of a lifetime can expect to live 4.8 years fewer than a person who does not watch TV.

In fact, every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life…

There's a new breed of walking that's growing in urban environments where curious walkers experience anything from philosophical discourse to poetry and nature - both night and day.

Groups such as Elastic City in NYC recently presented a 10…

Research has pointed out that the way we frame our message to exercise may be a good part of the reason so many people give it up.

It seems that we need to create a message that exercise provides more immediate results that motivate us individually. Instead of promising results in months and…

Does this sound familiar? But for walking?

Italian racewalking champion Alex Schwazer admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs in the run-up to the London Olympics, a potentially career-ending move that led to his exclusion from the Games.

At his first news…

The College of Sports Medicine in San Francisco recently reported that in a large study of adults over a 30 year span, those that reported that they ran for exercise had about a 19% lower death rate than non-runners.

But, more interesting was that…

While FreeWalker walks are known more for their mix of environments, they always include a good portion of Mother Nature. Here's an article on a study that just makes sense. Allergies appear more common in environments that are compromised or limited.
Not having enough contact with the natural environment is  one reason more city dwellers are developing allergies and asthma. That is,…

The author of this article argues that pedestrians have lost the battle of the streets over the years.

The sidewalks and the roadbed — sidewalks were not pedestrian cattle pens, but off-limits zones for vehicles. But that changed over time with the advent of trolleys, bicycles and then cars…

It’s a good thing that we are biologically programmed to forget painful experiences. But what about exhausting or uncomfortable ones? You conveniently forget how much work goes into a tough walk. Or, at least that was my thought as the three of us finally finished out LENAPE34 walk, fully exhausted, at North Broad Street Station in Newark after 10:00 p.m. – 15 hours of nearly non-stop walking. Five other walkers had already made the entire…

I woke to the alarm at 4:45 wondering about the weather. I’m sure I heard rain but I knew, based upon conditions the whole week, that there was no easy way to call this day.  Rain was in the forecast, but it looked more like off and on showers. So, there was no good reason for cancelling. There were about 40+ walkers confirmed, although I knew that was not going to be our final count on a day like today.…

This 5+-mile segment is actually the same beginning trail for the L34 and represents an immediate challenge as you ascend South Mountain for a couple hundred feet right from the start. At a little after 9:00 a.m. on Sep 25th the trail was quiet for most of the way. Between Risa Olinsky, Nadeem Firoz and myself we had enough collective experienced to remember the route, although the trail blaze markers looked like they were in good shape from last…