The most recent Emory Health Walk, sponsored by the New York chapter of the Caucus of Emory Black Alumni (CEBA), turned out to be a fun, healthy, and early-morning success. The turnout at Central Park on Saturday, June 26 included alumni representatives from various class years between 1990 and 2010. Though a few of us battled some slight handicaps from the conclusion of a Friday night out on the town merely hours before, everyone braved the heat and arrived bright and early ready to walk.

As an added bonus, our group was treated to an up-close view of the finish line to the annual Pride Run. Seeing these runners complete the home stretch was quite an inspiration to all of us (some ran the entire race in under 25 minutes!)

With breakfast bars and new Emory T-shirts in hand, our crew was ready to get its pre-walking stretches on. We met our guide Lon at our starting point, the North Meadow Recreation Center, where he taught us the importance of good posture and premptive stretching before we started out on our journey. Lon was so impressed that so many of us had come out together to walk for our health (especially on a weekend morning) that he decided to give us our own private walk!

What we thought would be a mere stroll in the Park turned out to be quite a workout, however, as keeping our arms high and our feet light proved to be quite a challenge. “Stay loose as a goose!” Lon would cheer periodically as arms dropped or feet lagged. Thanks to our athletic fervor and a rather unrelenting June sun, it’s safe to say that we were all sweating by the time the 45-minute trek through the hills and paths of Central Park came to an end. Nevertheless, we all agreed that this was a great way to start out our Saturday morning.

After a group cool down stretch, we handed out some extra Emory T-shirts to other walkers out on their own strolls. “Emory… Hey, that’s a great school!” shouted one man, as he proudly held up his new T-shirt. “Thank you, sir!” He didn’t need to tell us…

Couldn’t join us last week? The North Meadow Recreation Center leads weekly Central Park walks every Saturday morning from 9:30 am to 11:00 a.m., no pre-registration required. We’ll see you out there!

- Montshona Edwards 07C