Reduce your risk of heart disease.

Lower your stress level.

Control your blood pressure.

Lose weight.

Add years to your life.

Those are some of the big benefits you can enjoy just by adding a brisk walk to your daily routine.

There's no better time to get into the walking habit than now, with the Walk! Alabama program, sponsored by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

Walk! Alabama is a fun, eight-week fitness program that will spark some friendly competition in Butler County and counties across the state March 4-April 28.

In the program, teams of eight friends, neighbors, family members and co-workers compete to see which team can walk the most miles and be the first to reach the goal of 850 miles.

That's roughly the equivalent of walking crisscross Alabama-from Houston County up to Lauderdale, over to DeKalb and down to Baldwin.

Although team members can walk together as a group, many of them will likely choose to walk on their own.

Each team member keeps a log of how many miles he or she walks and reports the total to the team captain each week; the team's total mileage is what counts.

Every team's mileage will be tracked on a weekly basis on an official Walk! Alabama map that will be posted in the Butler County Extension Office.

Participating in Walk! Alabama is a fun way to get in the healthy habit of walking for exercise.

We're hoping that once you see how good it makes you feel, that's all the motivation you'll need to continue after the program ends.

To participate in Walk! Alabama, get an eight-member team together, name the team, choose a team captain and fill out a registration form.

Forms are available in the county Extension office, in the Old Armory Building in Greenville, 101 South Conecuh Street.

Participants officially begin logging their miles on March 4.

The program ends April 28.

For more information call us at 382-5111.