With only three days left of the “Ready, Set, Walk” competition against the Public Affairs Council, employees at State and Federal Communications are eagerly setting aside time to increase their number of steps.

Walking with pedometers strapped to their sides, the employees of State and Federal Communications are focused on prevailing in the competition against their friendly rivals in Washington, DC.

We created a quick video as inspiration for the final three days of our challenge. Take a look!

Video produced by Joanna Kamvouris.

In the midst of our employee walking challenge, State and Federal Communications has a new friendly rival.

Beginning July 23, the Public Affairs Council and State and Federal Communications will work up a sweat, taking part in a one week challenge called “Ready, Set, Walk” to promote wellness and stir up healthy competition.

Wearing pedometers to track their daily steps, 24 employees from each organization will aim to motivate their co-workers and accumulate the most steps by July 29. Both teams are giving their best effort to walk for the win.

Best of luck to all participants, and let the walking begin!

State and Federal Communications wrapped up its first six-week Walking Challenge and each of the three teams has been wearing pedometers and walking like crazy. We congratulate Myra Cottrill’s team – Steve Quinn, Jeff Roberts, Becky Campbell, John Cozine, Myra Cottrill, Jen Zona, David Jones, George Ticoras, and Megan Huber – for walking the farthest. Their hard work paid off with a whopping total of 3,828,367 combined steps!

I took a look at our company total, which was 11,217,621 steps, and it was hard for me to comprehend such a number. So I thought I would see how far those steps would take us if we drew a straight line from Akron, Ohio. If my online distance calculator is to be trusted and if you assume we could walk over the ocean, our 11 million-plus steps would equal about 5600 miles, taking us to Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ankara, Turkey; or Omsk, Russia! (My own total of 435,500 steps would only take me to Toronto or Cincinnati.)

The individual team member (company wide) with the most steps was Jim Bartz, who reached 777,703. Just amazing…

The heels of our walking shoes will not cool off for long, since next week the company will once again divide into three new teams and start another six-week walking challenge! Good luck teams!

After dividing into three teams of nine, State and Federal Communications employees worked up a sweat, completing four weeks of the “We’re Walking” program.

The Myra Texas Walkers took the lead in the first week, successfully reaching 655,040 steps.

Team Winner proved worthy of its name after placing a victory in the second week by walking 607,187 steps. Team leader Jim Warner acknowledged the intended line of attack behind Team Winner’s sudden success.

“My strategy can be summarized in two words: sneak attack,” Warner said. “I knew Myra and Joe May would disregard Team Winner and become too confident.  Team Winner started slowly, but we have tried to increase our steps each week.”

In retaliation, Team Happy Feet strode past its opponents in the third week by reaching 678,969 steps.

“We shall outpace them on the beaches, we shall outpace them on the landing grounds, we shall outpace them in the fields and in the streets; we shall never surrender,” Happy Feet team leader Joe May announced.

Although all three teams are striving for the win, Team Winner took the most steps in the fourth week, accumulating 781,808 steps.

With only two weeks of the competition left, team members are eagerly setting aside time to improve their scores.

“We’re treating this like a marathon, not a sprint,” Myra Cottrill, leader of the Myra Texas Walkers said. “Team Winner and Happy Feet may be in the lead, but I know our steady week-to-week improvements will result in a decisive victory.”

The competition rises as team members find themselves neck and neck on their way toward the finish line. To provide more motivation, Elizabeth Bartz is upping the stakes by offering a bigger prize to the winning team.

Stay tuned for more details as the competition heats up!

Certainly you have heard about the recommendation that each of us should be taking 10,000 steps every day for our health. As part of its wellness program, State and Federal Communications is taking up the challenge and today we kick off our “We’re Walking” program.

We have divided into three teams and for six weeks we will walk in the morning, at lunchtime, and after work – whenever we can. At the end of the six weeks, we will see which team has walked the most steps. The winners will receive bragging rights, of course, and a few prizes.

Good luck to all of the participants!