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Walk with Me in the Berkshires Frequently Asked QuestionsQ: How long does the program run?A: Walk with Me in the Berkshires kicks off on Tuesday, April 8th with registration, and the actual step counting begins the following Monday, April 21st, running six weeks until June 1st. Q: Is there a cost? A: No, Walk with Me in the Berkshires is free, and is not a fund-raising effort. The program is designed purely to encourage more exercise. Q: How many people can register for Walk with Me? A: Unfortunately, the program is currently limited to the first 1,500 people to register. Q: Can I register as an individual walker? A: For 2008, Walk with Me in the Berkshires is open to teams, but the teams can be as small as 2 people, or as large as 20. Q: How do I register? A: In 2008, all registration will be conducted online, and your team captain is responsible for registering the entire team. Registration will be held on Tuesday, April 8th at 10:00 a.m. At that time, your team captain should go to the IBerkshires web site, at www.iberkshires.com, click on the Walk with Me logo, and then click on the registration link. The team captain will fill out the online forms. There are two steps to this. One is the initial registration for the team itself. The second is the registration of each individual member of the team. All of this should be done by the team captain in a timely fashion. Once both steps are complete, your team is registered. Q: What does my team captain have to know in order to enter information into the online registration forms? A: Very basic information, including a team name, the number of people on the team (anywhere from 2 to 20), the names of each teach member, the community in which they reside, age range for each, a t-shirt size for each and a contact e-mail address (the entire team may use one e-mail address for this, or the captain can put in every individual member's e-mail address in the second step of the registration process, when he or she registers the individual team members). Q: How will I know if I am successful in registering? A: The program is limited to 1,500 participants, and when you are on the registration site, you will see a counter on the screen, which indicates the number of available slots left in the program. While the overall number may be smaller when you finish your registration process, this will give you a good idea if you were one of the first 1,500 to register. You will receive an automatically generated e-mail telling you of your final successful registration in the program. Q: Is there an age requirement to participate? A: Walk with Me in the Berkshires is open to anyone ages 10 and above. If you are under the age of 18, your team captain will be asked to click on a box during registration that certifies a parent or guardian has approved your participation in the program. Q: Once I am successfully registered, how do I get my packet, including my free pedometer? A: Your team captain will be contacted at the e-mail address given by him or her in the initial phase of registration with instructions as to when and where to pick up your participation packet, which will include your pedometer. Q: What if I don't own a computer, or don't have access to one? Can I still participate? A: Yes, provided one member of your team does have access to a computer for registration. Only the team captain needs to go online, and his or her e-mail address can be used as the main contact information for your team. Q: Once I have been notified as to where to pick up my participation packet, who should pick it up? A: Your team captain or a designee for the team should pick up all of your team members participation packets and then distribute them to each team member. Q: What if I get home and find my pedometer doesn't function right? A: It is possible that the pedometer is functional, but not working for a few reasons. One is the placement of the pedometer. It must be placed on the hip, as the swaying motion of the hip while walking is what causes the pedometer to click and count steps. Another problem could be the battery. While rare, the battery may be dead and might need replacement. Inside the box containing the pedometer are instructions on its proper function and how to replace the battery, if needed. Unfortunately, we do not have enough pedometers to replace any that are not functioning properly. There is, however, a telephone number on the box the pedometer comes in where you can report a problem, if you have tried the remedies suggested in the instructions and they have failed. Q: What if I lose my pedometer or it becomes damaged? A: Unfortunately, we cannot replace pedometers. Use appropriate care when using your pedometer. Do not let it get wet, as this may damage it. Q: Should I wear my pedometer only for my daily walk? A: You should wear your pedometer all day long, from morning to bedtime, and it will register each step you take, which can be counted toward your reported weekly steps. It will register steps taken while walking, using a treadmill or other exercise equipment, running, etc. Q: What should be my goal? A: The ultimate goal is to get more exercise. The program is designed to encourage you to walk, and each week to walk more steps than the week before. Your first week is your "baseline" week. Let's say you record 10,000 steps that week. Your goal for week two should be anything above 10,000 steps, and each week you should try and walk more than the week before. Q: How do I report my weekly step count? A: Each week your team captain or a designee should go online to the iberkshires.com website and click on the Walk with Me link, and then on the Report Your Steps link. Follow the online instructions and your steps will be automatically tabulated. You should report your steps for the previous week by Tuesday at midnight of the following week. As an example, once you have completed your walking for the week of April 21st through April 27th, give the information to your team captain. The captain then goes to the iberkshires.com website on April 28th or 29th (and must do so before midnight on April 29th) and logs all of the steps for each team member for the previous week. Make sure your team's steps are reported by the Tuesday midnight deadline, or no steps will be recorded for the previous week. Q: How can I find out how my team is doing? A: Each week the step statistics will be shown on both the Berkshire Health Systems web site (www.berkshirehealthsystems.org) and iberkshires.com. Additionally, three times during the course of the program, team statistics will be published in the Berkshire Eagle (this is planned for week one, which is your "baseline" week, week four, and a final tally after week six). Q: Once the program is over, there are prizes awarded for both teams and individuals on teams who have achieved the highest increases in steps. How do I know if I won? A:If you're a prize winner, you or your team captain will be notified by e-mail and you will be told how to claim your prize. Q: Does everyone get a free t-shirt? A: Yes, all participants get a free t-shirt. Your team captain will be asked as part of the registration process to put in a shirt size for each team member. When the program is complete, your team captain will receive an e-mail telling him or her how to pick up your team's packet of free t-shirts. Q: When the program is complete, do I need to return my pedometer? A: The pedometer is yours to keep and use all year long. We want you to keep walking and exercising well beyond June 1st, when the Walk with Me in the Berkshires program formally concludes. |
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