‘Get Your Tail On The Trail’ Starts 165-Mile Challenge For 7th Year

Virtual Kick-off to be held Saturday, May 2

The "Get Your Tail on the Trail" program, offered by St. Luke’s University Health Network and the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L), is off and running for its seventh year. The program challenges participants to log 165 miles of exercise such as walking, hiking, running, biking or paddling from May 1 to November 2, 2020.

A virtual kickoff event will be held on Saturday, May 2 with Dr. Joanne Calabrese. Simply visit the following link: https://vimeo.com/412473108.

What: "Get Your Tail on the Trail” seven-year kick-off celebration

When: Saturday, May 2

Where: https://vimeo.com/412473108.

• Log miles walking, running, biking, etc.
• Conversion charts will be available for indoor exercise
• Exercise along with virtual tours of different parts of the trail
• Earn great prizes

Anyone interested in participating are asked to register at  https://go.activecalendar.com/sluhn/event/tail-on-the-trail-165-mile-challenge-kickoff/.

“Get Your Tail on the Trail” participants register for free as an individual or as part of an organization at tailonthetrail.org and log the miles that they walk, run, hike, bike or paddle, or any other continuous activity they participate in for 10 minutes or more. While the program doesn't require participants to exercise exclusively on the nearly continuous 165-mile D&L Trail, it is the centerpiece of the program. The trail stretches from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, Pennsylvania.

In addition to the 165-Mile Challenge that runs each May to November, there are special events throughout the year, including bike and hike outings, health fairs, history walks and more. Since the program was launched in 2013, more than 8,000 participants have logged almost 4.5 million miles. Those who complete the challenge receive a reward. Past rewards have included t-shirts, hats, backpacks and rain ponchos.

Goal is to encourage healthy lifestyles
“Our goal is very simple: To get people outside and get them active,” says Kathy Ramson, St. Luke’s Network Director for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease. “We want people to be physically active because it is one of the best ways to prevent chronic disease. There’s a good deal of data that show that if you exercise 150 minutes a week, you’re going to have better health outcomes overall.”

Ramson said the program is purposefully simple. “If fitness is complicated, people won’t do it,” she says. “We make it simple because we want to eliminate the barriers.”

One of the reasons St. Luke’s partnered with D&L is that exercising outdoors has proven to be healthier than exercising indoors, Ramson says. “Whether it's the sunshine, fresh air or varied terrain, the benefits of outdoor exercise are backed by research,” she says. “And we have this fantastic resource right in our backyard – the D&L Trail – so all of our events and promotions of the program, also promote the trail. Even with COVID-19, hiking, walking, running and biking outside pose little or no risk, provided you aren’t exercising in large groups and are keeping your distance when passing people.”

For more information about the “Get Your Tail on the Trail” program, visit tailonthetrail.org or call the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor at 610-923-3548 ext. 221. For more information about the kickoff, call Kathy Ramson, DNP, RN, CCRN,  Network Director Healthy Living and Chronic Disease, at 484-526-2301 or email her at Kathy.Ramson@sluhn.org.

Media Contact

Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke's is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke's created the Lehigh Valley's first and only regional medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 34 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 263 residents and fellows. St. Luke's is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health's 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke's hospitals. St. Luke's University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke's has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN's information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. St. Luke's is also recognized as one of the state's lowest cost providers.