What is Walktober?

Walktober is a free, community-wide physical activity initiative, encouraging you to engage in the recommended 30 minutes of activity five or more days of the week. Walking is a perfect way to meet that goal!

Enjoy each day of October’s pleasant temperatures with a friend, child, spouse, co-worker, neighbor or pet. You might get hooked! Forming a walking habit is comfortable with the partnership and accountability of friendship, family, neighbors, co-worker or dog. Walking-and-talking is relaxing for mental health and stimulating to the body’s health.

To register for Walktober click here

When you register for Walktober, you are entered into a drawing at the end of the month for Fartleks & Fleet Feet Gift Cards. With your registration, you will also receive weekly email updates on Walktober events and healthy tips.

Do you need a tool to track your steps, miles or minutes walked in October? Click here for a fillable calendar.

Month-long Events:

1. Join the Walktober Strava Club and track your walks from your device. Click here for the steps to join. Bonus: by using strava you are helping your city! The City of Wichita uses the data in Strava to learn where people in the city are biking and walking.
2. Walktober ICT Facebook Group: During Walktober, learn how the simple habit of walking can provide numerous health benefits! Uplift Healthy Lifestyle invites you to join our Facebook Group to get support as you create your walking habit. Our local experts can help you step to the next level – wherever you are in your fitness journey.

Events

1. Bike Walk Wichita will lead lunchtime walks downtown from Naftzger Park each Wednesday of Walktober beginning at 12:15pm October 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th
2. Walking Wednesday evening walk: Wednesday, October 2nd at 5:30pm. Meet at the Keeper of the Plains statue and walk along the river and through Veterans Memorial Park.
3. 2nd Sunday Slow Roll and Stroll in conjunction with the Open Streets event on Sunday, October 13th hosted by Bike Walk Wichita. Details coming soon.
4. Walking Wednesday evening walk: Wednesday, October 16th at Sedgwick County Park at 5:30pm. Meet near the Bike Share ICT stand in the parking lot closest to 13th Street.
5. Calvary Cemetery Walk led by Jim Mason & Mike Maxton on Wednesday, October 30th at 5:30pm. Calvary Cemetery, Wichita’s oldest Catholic Cemetery, is also perhaps the city’s most visible cemetery, with its location along Kellogg, just east of Hillside. Downtown Wichita is easily viewed from the center of the cemetery. Use the address of 602 S. Rutan for navigation. The tour starts on the east side of the Mausoleum, on the sidewalk. Walking tour handout – copies will not be provided at the walk.
• Parking is available along Rutan Street, on the western edge of the cemetery, and also along the internal roads located in the cemetery. There is a small parking area south of the mausoleum. Do not park on the grass, nor on any graves. Try to only park on ONE SIDE of the cemetery roads to ensure other vehicles can get through. There is only one entrance into the cemetery by car or bike, on Rutan. There are three walk-in entrances also, along Rutan Street.

Ongoing Events

• Exploration Place parkrun – A free, fun, and friendly weekly 5k community event. Walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate – it’s up to you!
• Did you know that four new StoryWalk® locations have been added within the past year? This interactive attraction pairs literacy with physical activity. There are stations along the walking path at the park, each one containing laminated pages from a children’s book. Read the whole book with your child and ask guided questions about what they read, provided at the last station of the StoryWalk®.
• Sedgwick County Zoo Making Tracks – track your miles walked at the zoo! Call 316-660-9453 for more information or stop by the gift shop.

Thank you to the Community Planning Partners

Bike Walk Wichita, City of Wichita, K-State Research & Extension, Uplift Healthy Lifestyle, Wichita Family Medicine

Resources to keep you motivated all year long

• Walking Tips for Seniors
• Walking Tips for Families
• Walk BINGO
• Walk at Work Tips
• Worksite Walking Clubs
• Walking Detective Kids Workbook – Is your neighborhood a safe and easy place to walk and bike? It’s up to you to find out! Take the case and you can be a walking detective.
• Walking Detective Leaders Guide
• 6 steps and helpful tips for starting a walking club
• Wichita Flag Murals Map
• Interactive map of Keeper Statues – walk to a keeper in your neighborhood!
• Volunteer to walk a dog! Kansas Humane Society’s Dog’s Day Out program allows you to take a dog out of the shelter for outings in the community. Outings can include a hike, a car ride to get a pup cup, and visits to dog friendly stores and locations in Wichita. Participants do not have to commit to a minimum number of outings or undergo the detailed training that in-shelter volunteers are required to take. Participants must be at least 18 years old. For more information, contact Shanna.
• Get Outdoors Kansas – explore trails across the state!
• What if we all lived life at 3 mph? Wayfarer Jonathon has walked thousands of miles over the last few years in response to that question, including an across-country walk to raise support for Kiva.org. In this riveting talk, Jonathon asks us to question the design of our cities, and implores the audience to get out of the car, off the bike, and into a slower state of mind.

Walktober History:

The Sedgwick County Health Department started Walktober in 2008 to encourage people to get out and walk. Each year, community partners come together to plan events and promote the benefits of walking.

Why Walking

• What’s new? The mantra “10,000 steps a day” should be nuanced. That recommendation seems to have come from a Japanese marketing plan for a pedometer. In the last few years new studies have suggested that the benefits of walking occur at lower levels.
• Data from the Women’s Health Study published in 2019 showed that for women over 45, significant decrease in mortality was seen at just 4,400 steps per day, and the benefits leveled off at about 7,500 steps per day.
• An international group formed the Steps for Health Collaborative and did a meta-analysis of 15 studies. Published results in Lancet in 2022, it found that for those 60 and older, the benefits leveled off between 6,000-8,000 steps per day. For those younger than 60, benefits leveled off at about 8,000-10,000 steps per day.
• 10,000 steps per day is a daunting challenge, one that could discourage many people from even starting to walk. Physicians should recommend walking as a basic tenet of preventive care and emphasize that benefits can occur at lower numbers of steps. Download the Medical Society of Sedgwick County “Prescription for Walking” here.
• Doc Mike Evans – 23 ½ Hours video