NC State University‘s staff may be the most fit in North Carolina.

A team of ten employees recently placed second in the state’s eight-week Miles for Wellness Challenge #19 Trail of Many Rails Spring competition “Hare” division.

This was the only team out of 16 NC State University teams to place in the statewide competition, which involved more than 3,600 state employees who completed the challenge. The Department of Health and Human Services remains in first place for the largest number teams participating statewide at 110 teams.

The NC State University’s Google Street View team logged more than 5 million steps, for a total of 2,795.1 miles in the competition sponsored by the N.C. Office of State Human Resources. The competition followed a virtual “trail” journey in North Carolina at the NC Transportation Museum and visited railroad sites in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, California, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. Participants returned to North Carolina to finish their adventure at the Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock.

The total number of steps recorded by state employees in this competition was 2,091,326,721, for a total of 1,045,663 miles – or just shy of 2.5 round trips to the moon and back.

There were 432 teams from across the state registered for the challenge in one of four activity levels: Tortoise, Hare, Super Hare and Bionic Hare. Of the 432 teams that originally registered in the spring, 363 teams completed the challenge. Teams represented state agencies, community colleges, universities.

The Miles for Wellness Challenges in the spring and fall are managed by Katherine Hilliard, statewide wellness coordinator with the North Carolina Office of State Human Resources. Last week, Hilliard presented the Google Street View team with a second place trophy, which will travel to each team member until October. Each Google Street View participant received a certificate recognizing their steps.

Stepping efforts for the Google Street View ‘Athletes/Milers’ as she calls them, have been led by Claudia Mello, also known as Crazy Coach Claudia, ‘CCC,’ who created these teams and submitted team results each week of the competition.

Weekly emails encourage the team to focus on physical, mental, nutrition, hydration and emotional well-being. As an incentive to move more, Mello sends these motivational emails with helpful information, events that will get them outside and move, along with funny memes to prompt her team to smile.

Oh so you noticed that ‘S’ tagged on to team? Yes, ‘CCC,’ who is a wellness champion has multiple teams. Her first team came together during the Challenge #15. In creating a team, Mello generated so much interest that two teams were created. Since that first challenge, Mello has coached two or more teams per challenge season [yes, it is legal].

Mello’s on-going original team, Between a Walk and a Hard Pace, consists of mostly ‘Athletes/Milers’ that do 5k’s to Ultras to obstacle courses. Those current ‘Athletes/Milers’ are: Terri Chance, Libraries, David Herpy, CALS, Jenny Korreck, Office of University Architect, Claudia Mello, CALS, Tamara Nagelberg, IES Operations, David Serxner, Libraries, Dr. Janice Sitzes, Office of Professional Development, Dr. Rhonda Sutton, CALS, Allen Thompson, Office of University Architect, and James Williamson, IES Operations. Their team placed 31st out of 165 teams in the ‘Super Hare’ division with a total of 7,185,990 team steps or 3,593 miles in this Challenge #19.

Many of the Between a Walk and a Hard Pace team members benefit from the team’s dynamic. Mello puts in many miles along side her team, chasing, pacing them on the road and trails or at the finish line cheering. Always building trust so current team members feel comfortable recruiting their friends to join them under her guidance.

The faces of team members often remain the same from challenge to challenger, but the team is always looking to grow. Sometimes members leave to start their own team and Mello supports these new challenge competitors.

For whatever reason if a team members drop out on her team, she will call out to see if anyone is interested. She fills any open slots as needed on a first slot, first filled basis. At times, that is where another team is born. She treats/coaches all her ‘Athletes/Milers’ equally with the same information and motivation.

The Google Street View team ‘Athletes/Milers’ are: LaTosha Bradley, CALS, Tiffany Bryant, CALS, Lisa DePinto, Libraries, Sara Lane, CALS, Charlotte Leitch, CALS, Nancy Marks, CALS, Kevin McCloskey, CALS, Scott Niven, CALS, Carolyn Richardson, CALS, and Summer VanRiper (not pictured), CALS.

There were four division of teams in the Miles for Wellness competition this spring. The top three out of 125 teams that placed in the Hare division were State Fair Walkie Talkies, NCDA & CS, first place with a total of 2,798 miles; Google Street View, NC State University, second place with a total of 2,975 miles and Die Lard, N.C. Department of Justice, third place with a total of 2792 miles.

Google Street View was in second place behind State Fair Walkie talkies of the NCDA&CS by just 4,888 steps! Or just 2.5 miles! Or 489 steps per team member! Or 61 steps per team member each week! Or 9 steps per team member a day. As Katherine Hilliard believes and so should you: Every Step Counts [ESC!].

The next Miles for Wellness Challenge #20 will blast off on Monday, September 23, 2019 running through Sunday, November 17, 2019. Registration will begin in August.

This is a free event to participate in. All you have to do is take steps and report them to your captain each week. You don’t have to be a runner, but if you do this challenge, you are an Athlete/Miler!! You will be amazed on how far you have walked in a day, week, month or even eight weeks.

A conversion chart is available for your activity to convert to recordable steps. Examples are cutting the grass, yoga, pilates, swimming, shopping, vacuuming, basketball, walking the dog [or cat if you are brave], jump roping, kayaking, Tai Chi, dancing, soft ball, etc. As soon as your feet hit the ground every morning, you are stepping your way through this challenge. Every Step Counts!!

Feel free to start a team, join an existing team or be a part of Crazy Coach Claudia’s teams. All levels welcome.

https://oshr.nc.gov/miles-4-wellness-home