Any "Cardiac" walking events?

[Illinois Al]

I just got back this morning from a half-hour [slow] walk and I was pretty winded, so I know I have considerable rehab work to do before I think about doing any serious events. Nevertheless I was wondering if there are any walking events, like a 5K, targeted specifcially at recovered cardiac patients?

And ideally either in the Chicago area or the midwest.

Before my operation I had a pretty sedentary life style and I was overweight which undoubtedly contributed to my problems. I had been trying to improve, though, and last year did complete an "official" 5K walking event.

It was going to my doctor and complaining that I was having tightness in my chest and shortness of breath when walking that triggered my finding out I needed the valve replacement.

 

[perrypiratesdad]

I don't know if there are any "Cardiac" walking events, but just about every run that I have competed in has had a walking class.

Some of the folks take their walking very seriously, and others I believe go just to have a good time and get a T-shirt. I say, just sign up for as many as you can end enjoy yourself and get a whole bunch of cool T-Shirts.

 

[SumoRunner]

Most local 5K runs are charity fundraisers and welcome walkers as well. No way they're going to turn down your entry fee because you're slow. Go to the Chicago Area Runners Assoc and look for a race schedule.

http://www.cararuns.org/

They'll usually have the entry forms on line and it may indicate walkers welcome. Even if it doesn't, you can scan the results archives for the same run last year and look at the times. Anything from 40 to 50 minutes for 5K is walking speed.

There is no cardiacs-only thing anywhere that I've ever seen. There is one local Thanksgiving Day run on my area called the Cardiac Classic but that's because of the hospital that sponsors it, not the participants. You really want to take part in the mainstream events anyway.

If you'd like to stand out, there's a web site www.cardiacathletes.com that sells tee shirts with great big hearts on them. Click on the "Shops" section. I have one.

 

[perrypiratesdad]

I remember one Thanksgiving day run that I did when I was in High School. It was a 10k run (don't remember if it had a walk then.... this was back in the 80's), but they messed up the T-shirt. It said "10,000k run" not "10k run" (that would be over 6,200 miles for 10,000k)!! Needless to say, most people who knew anything about running were impressed when they saw the shirt.

I wish I still had the shirt, but it wore out years ago.

 

[tprice54]

Al, there are not many walking only events that I know of anywhere, but as mentioned, check out any local 5k and see if walkers are welcome. As a note, there is a group of us from cardiac athletes that meet up once or twice a year to run a race...most not very fast!
Also, I am planning on having a weekly "throw down" ala the Cooker weight loss thread every week, that will have everyone posting their weekly mileage for walking, running, biking, whatever exercise you want....keep checking back!

 

[Lynette]

Chicago area heart walks

Chicago area heart walks

The 2008 Metro Chicago Start! Heartwalk, sponsored by the American Heart Association, is coming up the end of September, at several Chicago locations (downtown and suburbs).

Midwest Heart Specialists also sponsor an annual 5K Heart for Life walk/run, this year it was June 21 in Lisle. That might be an option for next year. Good Luck!

 

[DebbyA]

I just saw an ad today for The American Heart Assn walking program named "Start!".
The advertised address was americanheart.org/start, but trying to find events seemed kind of circular. I finally found the search-by-zip-code feature by selecting "Embrace our Cause", but when I tried to paste a link it defaulted to my locale. Good luck!

 

[SumoRunner]

Start! is not a new idea, just a new marketing campaign. I can recall running a local road race which was a Heart Assoc. fund raiser as far back as 1980.

There are fund raising groups for Leukemia, Diabetes, Stroke, Heart, you name it. I pass by large groups of them every Saturday morning on the Mohawk River bike path. They have coaches and training web sites and matching tee shirts. Most are runners but a significant number are walkers. Their target events are usually marathons or half marathons though and very few of them are actually survivors of the diseases they represent. Most often they are connected to a mother or father or someone else who suffered it.

For a 5K, the groups aren't as organized. The charities depend on individuals to pick up donation sheets and pass them around to friends and family. The Susan G Komen Race for the Cure (breast cancer) is the biggest of these. It has tens of thousands of participants across the country and it makes a big deal of survivors participation. Maybe as large as Komen but for walkers-only is the AIDS Walk series in many cities. The Start! Heart Walk series looks more like that scenario.

Then there are thousands of small local 5K fund raisers for just about anything you can imagine. I run several every year in my locale. They are usually very small and only locally advertised, but even a few thousand dollars for some organizations is good money. They will always welcome walkers simply because every $20 entry counts. I ran one last year raising funds to send some 8th graders to Washington DC. It was close by, so why not?

 

[DebbyA]

Another category of walking events, though not cardiac targeted.

http://www.ava.org/index.htm