Walking Hits Its Stride in the ‘90s

You see them everywhere: walkers. Not lollygags who amble along, but vigorous striders who step quickly as if they’re late for an appointment.

You see them walking along the beach. You see them cruising through neighborhoods. You see them dart from places like the Ventura County Government Center at noon and make a beeline for the sidewalk.

If you happen to be a walker, you’ve got lots of company. Walking is now the No. 1 fitness sport, with some 16 million Americans pounding the pavement at least 100 days a year, according to Walking Magazine. In 1994 alone, the pedestrian ranks swelled by 6 million.

With that kind of boom, it’s no wonder that about 200 walkers show up at the Esplanade Shopping Center in Oxnard three mornings a week to put in their miles before the mall opens.

“At 9:30, you won’t get a chair in McDonald’s--it’s all walkers,” said Georgette Davis, who coordinates the program for Mercy Healthcare Ventura County.

And it’s not surprising that a walking club, the Channel Islands Volksmarchers, sprang up last year. It’s affiliated with the American Volkssport Assn., a growing collection of clubs that promotes noncompetitive walking events through scenic areas.

For most, though, walking isn’t an organized event. It’s a regular jaunt with a friend or two. Or it’s a solitary trek to clear one’s head, listen to music or even learn Swahili on tape.

But why are so many people getting turned on to walking lately? It’s been around, after all, since the first critter primeval slithered out of the sea. There’s nothing new or exciting about putting one foot in front of the other.

The folks at Walking Magazine have a theory: Walking fits in with the ‘90s reaction against the previous decade’s showy, complex lifestyles. It’s the sport of voluntary simplicity, a less-is-better approach to fitness.

“If fitness of the ‘80s was equipment-driven,” said editor-at-large Mark Fenton, “then fitness of the ‘90s is process-driven.” He said people want to enjoy their workouts, spend more time with their families, and worry less about whether they have a hard body.

It’s as simple as getting off the couch and opening the front door, but walkers all over Ventura County put their own spin on it.

Take Stan Howlett. He walks out of his Santa Paula home at 5:30 a.m. almost every day for a four-mile walk through the tree-shaded heart of downtown, past historic Craftsman homes, and back.

Howlett is 68, had open-heart surgery last November, and still managed to complete a 30-mile fund-raising walk earlier this year. What’s in Howlett’s chest isn’t as amazing as the stuff at his feet.

On every daily trek, he picks up dropped change and in the last 10 years has found almost $1 a day, which he has put into an account for his grandson’s education.

“I do it for the exercise--the other stuff makes it interesting,” he said.

He strides along at three miles per hour, wearing out two pairs of walking shoes a year. Although his surgery forced him to cut back his usual seven-mile daily jaunt, he credits walking for his fast recovery.

“The doctor told me that probably being so active saved my life,” he said.

Health organizations hail the benefits of walking. The Ventura County chapter of the American Heart Assn. distributes a brochure for walking wannabes. It suggests beginning with a five-minute walk, building up to 30 minutes over 12 days. Always do warm-up and cool-down exercises for about 10 minutes. Don’t push too hard. Reduce your pace if you can’t talk easily, or if you feel faint or out of breath.

The goal, according to the brochure, is a vigorous walk for 30 to 60 minutes, three or four times a week. You’ll feel better and maybe drop some excess weight.

Here’s the lowdown for calorie counters: A 150-pound person on an hourlong three-mile walk burns 320 calories, the equivalent of a fast-food cheeseburger.

Fred Fauvre, an Ojai internist and cardiologist, advises his patients to walk.

“I think everyone should walk at least a half-hour a day,” said Fauvre, 52, who runs marathons and walks several times a week as well. A conversational pace is fine; mile for mile, you’ll burn the same number of calories as you would running.

“I think it’s the wave of the future,” he said. “We’ll see more of it.”

Some walking advocates say it beats running because it’s less jarring and injuries are not as likely.

If pounding the pavement-- even at a walking pace--still sounds tedious, you might take the approach of Charlie and Margy Gates who live aboard their sailboat at Channel Islands Harbor. The Oxnard couple walks on Hollywood Beach every morning and often in the evening too. When it’s warm enough, they do their 35-to-40-minute route barefoot. They like the feel of the sand and say it gives their feet and legs a better workout.

“I don’t like walking in the city,” said Charlie Gates, a retired social worker who overcame heart problems after taking up walking in the mid-’80s.

The couple prefers to watch the shore birds and the crashing surf. “It’s different every day,” said Margy Gates, an artist, who rescued a drowning swimmer a few months ago while on one of her beach walks.

“I just feel good,” Charlie Gates said. “It’s the sheer joy--sometimes I feel like a kid. It’s spontaneous; it comes out of nowhere.”

Maybe you don’t have a sandy beach nearby. Or maybe you don’t like to walk near traffic. Or it’s too cold out, too hot, or it might rain. At least three of the county’s malls open their doors to early-bird walkers several days a week. Some programs run by hospitals supply medical personnel to take your blood pressure and do other health screening.

Many of these mall walkers are seniors, but don’t get the idea they are a bunch of softies. At The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, Eleanor MacNeil, 68, whizzes along at five miles an hour, often with a friend.

“No one wants to walk with us,” said MacNeil, a trim, fit-looking walker. A mall walker for six years, MacNeil wears five-pound weights on her arms. The loop around the mall is a half-mile and she puts in four or five miles five days a week. “It gives me daily stamina.”

Although the Oaks is strangely quiet at 8 a.m., the walking group is chatty, stopping afterward for coffee at McDonald’s in the mall. Some of the walkers have become friends and taken trips together.

Most record their miles on each visit. Vivian Pohler of Thousand Oaks has piled up an impressive 3,100 miles at the mall. Her walking pal, Elinor Welch, is on semi-hiatus because of a hip replacement. Pohler took up walking after her husband died and has been at it seven years. It was allergies that took her indoors.

On a recent day, about 30 walkers paced the Oaks’ floor, including: two retired guys wearing pacemakers; a mother pushing her 2-year-old daughter in a stroller accompanied by her mother-in-law; three women who have been friends 30 years; and a 76-year-old retired aerospace engineer plugged into the jazz violin sounds of Stephane Grappelli.

Let’s say you’re not retired and time is precious. Your job and family consume nearly all of it. What then? You can always do lunch--or rather, not do lunch.

At noon most working days, Liz Renteria slips into shorts and her walking shoes for a half-hour’s brisk walk around the County Government Center in Ventura. She’s been at it for two years, usually with a partner.

“A lot of us do it,” said Renteria who works in the district attorney’s office. “I’ve noticed an increase. Everyone is concerned with their health.” She feels better, she said.

Dianne Joines walks the same route for about an hour most every day. She brings along her lunch, usually fruit and yogurt. At it for five or six years, it gives her a break from sitting all day.

“People who work all day can’t go to a health club,” said Joines who works in the Sheriff’s Department. “This is a good alternative.”

Here’s another alternative if you happen to be the competitive type looking for a challenge: train for a marathon with the Leukemia Society of America’s Team in Training program. Coaches across the country--including one in Ventura--work with walkers and runners to prepare for marathons. Participation also involves raising funds for leukemia research.

Looking for something a little less daunting? Try Volkssporting. It sounds like a road race for Volkswagen bugs, but it’s not a race at all. The American Volkssporting Assn. has 525 clubs nationwide whose members are nuts about walking. The Channel Islands Volksmarchers, now in its second year, has 20 members from around the county. Once a month they get together for a 10-K (6.2-mile) walk.

“We walk in all kinds of weather,” said Donald Hadd, president. “We try to explore different routes.”

Each year the club, like others, sponsors larger noncompetitive 10-K walks designed to attract members from other clubs. Usually these are scenic routes, and walkers stride or meander along at their own pace. The club also puts together self-guided local walking routes.

Volkssporting, which began in Germany as “the sport of the people,” spread to the United States in 1979. Participants keep track of their mileage and get incentive awards. The majority, 62%, are women. It’s generally an older crowd with 87% over 35.

If you walk, want to know how you stack up? “Walking” magazine says women comprise 66% of the total walking population, and the median age of the average female fitness walker is 44. What’s the typical walk? About three miles for the average walker, who logged 338 miles over 133 days in 1994.

DETAILS

Here are some walking programs, organizations and events for walkers:

* MALL WALKING PROGRAMS:

Buenaventura Mall, Ventura: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8 to 10 a.m. Meet at the Food Court entrance. Operated by Community Memorial Hospital, 652-5095.

Esplanade Shopping Center, Oxnard: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8 to 9:45 a.m. Meet at the center entrance near the Food Court. Operated by Mercy Healthcare Ventura County, 988-2858.

The Oaks mall, Thousand Oaks: Open to walkers, 8 to 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday. Use West Hillcrest Drive side, middle entrance by McDonald’s restaurant. Not sponsored by the mall or any other organization

* ORGANIZATIONS:

Channel Islands Volksmarchers, 486-0322. American Volkssport Assn., (800) 830-WALK.

American Heart Assn., 485-4300.

Leukemia Society of America, Team in Training, 563-2751.

* EVENTS:

Sunday, Law Day ’96 5-K race (walkers welcome), sponsored by Ventura County Bar Assn. Race starts at 9 a.m., Ventura County Government Center, Telephone Road and Victoria Avenue, Ventura. For information, 650-7599.

Local Strolls Explore New Views

Tired of the same old walking spots? Here are five urban jaunts, some of them out of the way, with lots to see. (Some have sidewalks, some don’t.)

Ojai: Love the fragrance of orange blossoms? Take Highway 150 to the east end of Ojai. Just past Soule Park and Golf Course, turn onto Avenida de la Entrada and take a circular one-mile stroll up Avenida del Recreo and back down Avenida de la Vereda past tree-shaded homes and a scaled-down replica of the Taj Mahal, built for the Hindu teacher Krishnamurti, who died in 1986.

For a longer excursion, cross 150 and walk half a mile up Gorham Road to Grand Avenue. A walk in either direction will take you past aromatic citrus ranches along the foothills.

Santa Paula: A walk along Santa Paula Street will take you past historic Craftsman homes built around the turn of the century. Take the Peck Road exit off Highway 126 and go north. Walk along Santa Paula Street about two miles to 10th Street.

For a side trip, take 8th Street north up the hill to McKevett Road and Teague Drive for a look at some older classy homes.

Oxnard: For a stroll through a beach community with character, head for Ocean Drive at Hollywood Beach. The 1.3-mile stretch starts just above the west end of Channel Islands Boulevard and goes south to the entrance of Channel Islands Harbor. This was a Hollywood hangout as far back as the 1920s; look for “Casa Valentino.” Also, check out the wall with odd doodads embedded in it.

Thousand Oaks: For a stunning view of Wildwood Park without hitting the trail, stride west down Avenida de los Arboles from Lynn Road. It’s about a mile to the park. At Big Sky Drive, you can enter the park and continue along a fairly smooth dirt road that will take you to amazing vistas.

Ventura: If you don’t mind a steep hill or two, here’s a 2.5-mile circular route that will take you high above the city, through older neighborhoods with stunning ocean views. Start on Lincoln Drive near Poli Street and take Lincoln up the hill. Turn right onto Sunset Drive and follow its winding course along the ridge to Hall Canyon Road, where you go right down to Poli and back to Lincoln.