ROGERS — White guideposts mark the number of steps around Pinnacle Country Club this week during the LPGA tournament.
The markers are part of A Mile for Mercy as Mercy Northwest Arkansas partners with the tournament for the first time to promote increased physical activity in Northwest Arkansas.
By The Numbers
Measure Your Steps
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average American walks 1 ½ to 2 miles per day. One mile is approximately 2,000 steps. The centers recommends 10,000 steps a day, measured by clipping a pedometer to clothing at the waist.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Mercy staff members handed out 1,000 pedometers Friday from a tent just behind the 17th green. Those who log at least two miles with their pedometer can bring it back to the booth through Sunday and put their name in for the drawing of a mountain bike or two tickets to Mercy’s annual Charity Ball on Dec. 7.
Once participants log a total of 500 miles, the tournament will make a $5,000 donation to the Mercy Foundation.
The tournament partnered with Mercy to emphasize the fitness aspect of the event, said Jay Allen, tournament chairman, while adjusting his pedometer Friday morning.
“Coming to a golf tournament is pretty good exercise,” Allen said.
Walking is the primary mode of transportation at the tournament, said Kyle Brunen, health and wellness manager at Mercy Medical Center.
The Mercy tent offers free sunscreen and blood pressure and body composition analysis screenings. The first 500 attendees to stop by the tent today and Sunday can pick up a pedometer.
“I want to see how much you walk. It seems like you walk miles and miles and miles,” said Debbie Olson of Bella Vista as she started her walk Friday.
Cason Frisby, 9, of Fayetteville was happy to get a pedometer. Earlier this week he took a measuring wheel around the backyard to see how far 100 feet is compared to 1,000 feet.
“It’s just fun to figure out how far you have walked in one day,” Cason said.
Daymara Baker of Fayetteville said Chiquita has a fitness program called Live Chiquita that encourages employees to walk, run and exercise. She and co-worker Anne Whalen of Bella Vista decided to walk at least 5 kilometers, or 3.1 miles, Friday and ended up logging 3.6 miles by walking the front nine.
“It wasn’t hard by any means,” Whalen said.
Brunen encourages people to set a goal of 10,000 steps a day. By clipping on a pedometer during a daily routine people can measure their activity level, and if it falls short, increase it.
“Find ways to get those extra steps in so that you can reach that goal,” Brunen said.
The blood pressure screening and body composition analysis offered at the Mercy tent give people a baseline for their physical fitness, Brunen said.
“It’s not just that we want them to come out and be active. We want them to be knowledgeable about their health,” he said.
Walking more can lower stress and decrease risk factors involved in heart disease and diabetes, Brunen said.
“If you could put exercise in a pill it would be the number one selling pill in the world and the most potent,” he said, “And it would save your life.”