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Auburn, Feb. 5---Looking for a fun and risk-free way to burn fat, lower blood pressure, lose weight, ward off heart disease, strengthen your bones and muscles, prevent certain cancers, boost your mood and add years to your life? Walk! Alabama may be just what you're looking for.

Walk! Alabama, is a fun, eight-week, competitive walking program coming to your county March 4 through April 28. It is designed to get Alabamians in the habit of walking for exercise.

"If you are not a walker, Walk! Alabama will motivate you to start and stick with a walking plan," says Dr. Suzette Jelinek, Extension specialist, network and marketing, and coordinator of the program. "If you are already a walker, the friendly competition is a fun way to contribute your regular walking to a team effort."

How does Walk! Alabama work?

In each county, teams of eight friends, neighbors, family members and/or co-workers can compete to see which team can walk the most miles and be the first to reach 850 miles. That's the equivalent of walking crisscross Alabama -- from Houston County to Lauderdale County and from Baldwin County to DeKalb County.

Jelinek says, the goal is for each county to get as many eight-member teams as they can to compete. Teams are for everyone, regardless of age.

There are a lot of team possibilities. For example, business versus business, or department versus department within a business, neighborhood versus neighborhood, moms versus dads, school class versus school class ( i.e., sixth grade classes), school versus school, teachers versus students, teachers versus teachers, and churches versus churches. The list goes on and on. Prizes may be awarded to the first team to reach the 850-mile goal, team with the most miles, individual with the most miles, etc.

Team members can walk as a group or individually, says Jelinek,. Each team member keeps a log of his or her miles and reports the total to a team captain each week. The team's total mileage is tracked weekly on an official Walk! Alabama map posted in each Extension county office.

To participate, get an eight-member team together, name the team, choose a team captain, and fill out a registration form. Forms are free and available at your county Exension office. Your county Extension office will notify you when the kickoff celebration for Walk! Alabama is scheduled.

For interested teams, official Walk! Alabama t-shirts ($8 each) and pedometers ($14 each) may be purchased at each county Extension office.

For more information about Walk! Alabama contact the Alabama Cooperative Extension System office in your county.