Administration Wellness Corner: Move Naturally Challenge
By: Melanie Martin
In April, 11 HDOT employees signed up for the Move Naturally Challenge sponsored by the Blue Zones Project.
the gym before covid. But at the beginning of covid and all the lockdowns, I somehow became lazy and stopped working out at all because the gym closed.
The challenge was to take at least 7,500 steps per day for a total of 225,000 steps for the entire month of April. Congratulations to four of the participants who conquered the challenge! Here is how they did it. Curtis Motoyama, ADA Program Specialist with the Office of Civil Rights took on the challenge by walking in his neighborhood.
After 2-3 months I found that I am becoming bulky and gaining lots. So, I started doing home exercises, taking a walk/run around my neighborhood and at some point, I push myself to go farther until I feel tired. Now it became my routine to run at least 12 miles a day. It simply makes me feel good, incredibly positive and invigorated after, also hungry. It feels great pushing myself. Sometimes it’s hard and there are days when it takes more self-motivating that other days but the feeling of accomplishment and euphoria afterwards are always worth it.”
“My dog Mimi took me on a lot of walks,” Curtis said. He was pleasantly surprised that he would be splitting the prize money amongst the finishers. He does not plan to keep the money for himself. Instead, he explained, “I am donating my prize money to Hawaiian Humane Society. We adopted Mimi from the Hawaiian Humane Society and she helped me reach the goal. “ Lester Molina, Human Resources Assistant with HWY-O knocked this challenge out of the park with more than 800,000 steps! Lester said, “I used to do a lot of workouts at
Juli Chun, Operational Planning & Development Specialist, made her journey a family affair. She said, “The Move Naturally Challenge was a fun way to get me up and moving at every opportunity I had. The goal was at least 7,500 steps a day, but I tried to do at least 10,000. “From standing and stepping in place at my computer to walking every day. With the help of my family, we walk through the University
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See MOVE NATURALLY page 5
