Just call me the &8220;Marathon Man&8221; from now on. Yes, that&8217;s right. Your favorite pudgy bald guy just finished his first official marathon.

Twenty-six miles was easy. I made it in less than three hours, which may be unheard of for a first timer.

I know, I know, you&8217;re probably sitting there thinking 26 miles seems like an eternity. I felt the same way before I hit mile 26.

&8220;It&8217;s too hard. I&8217;ll never do that,&8221; you might be thinking.

Hogwash.

Those miles flew past effortlessly. In fact, I hardly broke a sweat.

But I&8217;m not trying to brag.

You could do the same.

You&8217;ll just need a little inspiration and some determination.

So what was my inspiration for the first notch in my marathon belt? My barber.

OK, that&8217;s not exactly correct; I spelled that incorrectly. Now don&8217;t get me wrong; I like Jan Bertrand at the Rebel Barber Shop. She&8217;s a nice lady, but she wasn&8217;t the source of my motivation. It was the other Barbour in my life &8212; as in Haley Barbour, governor of the fine state of Mississippi.

This isn&8217;t a matter of politics, however. Heck, I didn&8217;t vote for him &8212; I was living in Ohio when he ran for office.

But when I read about Barbour&8217;s support of a new statewide program titled &8220;Let&8217;s Go Walkin&8216; Mississippi&8221; I just couldn&8217;t help but get interested.

You may have seen a few of the TV commercials the group has aired hoping to get your attention. All the smart folks, however, read newspapers, correct?

The TV commercials feature images of Mississippians challenging one another to &8220;Let&8217;s go walking&8221; &8212; including the First Lady Marsha Barbour, inviting the governor.

The entire program is aimed at getting all of us Magnolia State residents off our rumps and walking a bit more.

Medical experts say walking is one of the best ways to get physically fit, lose weight and lower blood pressure.

BlueCross BlueShield of Mississippi sponsored the program. The insurance group obviously has an interest in getting Mississippians healthier.

Each year, mountains of money are spent on healthcare for people whose health could be improved through a simple act of walking.

Walking may not seem like exercise, but it is.

A brisk walk is nearly as effective at burning calories and giving your heart a workout as running &8212; and you&8217;re less apt to injure a joint since walking is less impacting.

The program has created a Web site to help provide some basic information: www.letsgowalkinms.com

From the Web site, you can find great public places to walk and even apply for a free pedometer &8212; which is a tiny device that can measure your steps and calculate those steps into distance covered.

The pedometers are only available to Mississippi residents, so our neighbors in Louisiana will have to head to the store for one. Basic models &8212; which are all you need to track your progress &8212; are inexpensive, however.

So as you consider New Year&8217;s resolutions, think of my &8220;sub-3&8221; marathon &8212; that&8217;s three weeks, mind you.

Yes, that&8217;s right. According to my pedometer, I finished walking my 26th mile in just 15 days, six hours.

What, you didn&8217;t think I&8217;d actually run a marathon did you?

My Barbour said running was overrated.

Walking will do just fine for now.

Will I run a marathon one day? Perhaps, but in the meantime, let&8217;s go walking, Mississippi.

Kevin Cooper

is associate publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or

kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com

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