Members of the Kingsport community met Nov. 4 for the Third Annual Walk for Wellness Expo in an effort to promote physical health. The event culminates a goal set last November by Healthy Kingsport to be the second city in the United States to have 1 million miles of physical activity logged within a year’s timeframe.
The Million Mile City Challenge was reached and over 1,579,406 miles of physical activity was logged, making Kingsport the second city in America behind Tucson, Arizona to successfully complete the challenge.
The Walk for Wellness Expo was presented by Wellmont Health Systems and consisted of two fitness walks—a 0.5 miles walk for beginners and a 1.6 mile walk for those with higher fitness levels. Along the way, participants found music, photo booths, healthy snacks and a kid’s corner designed for those with families.
“Healthy Kingsport is a great organization and does a great job at putting on this event and making it possible for anyone to be a part of the fitness challenge—from beginners to those who exercise every day—from singles to those with kids, it’s just a great event for anyone who wants to be involved,” said Expo participate Kelly Arnold.
While the wellness walk and family-friendly activities were certainly noteworthy, the highlight of the day was the announcement of the Kingsport community reaching the one-million-mile milestone.
“We not only reached our goal of one million miles, but together we have logged over 1.5 million miles. When Tucson completed the challenge, they only had 1.2 million miles logged as opposed to our 1.5, so we are definitely very proud today,” said Arnold.
Johnson City expects to do more in the following years for physical activity. There are other ongoing projects within city limits to promote exercise and healthy behavior. There is also more planned for the biking community with the beginning plans of a bike park underway downtown.
For more information about how to be a part of future wellness events in the community visit the Healthy Kingsport website at healthykingsport.org.
