Left to right: Judy Moscarella, Sharyn Jupp, Fitness Walks Chair Leslie Hawkins, Vivian Herman (photo by Dale Leman)
Leslie Hawkins
The Fitness Walkers, part of the SaddleBrooke Hiking Club, offer one-hour morning walks Monday through Friday throughout the year. Leslie Hawkins started with the group in June of 2017, shortly after moving here and joining the Hiking Club. To get more background on the group’s origin, she spoke with a member who began walking with the group in 2002. At that time, the group was led by Bill Leightenheimer, one of the founders of the Hiking Club. Initially, there was a men’s walking group on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and women’s walking group on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After some time, they decided to make it a coed activity Monday through Friday.
When Hawkins joined the walking group, Martha Hackworth was the leader. She started leading around 2010 and was there most every weekday morning. She knew the golf cart paths and roadways around SaddleBrooke One and SaddleBrooke TWO like the back of her hand. She could look at the time and quickly calculate the pace in order to arrive back at the bocce ball parking lot in one hour. If the route was getting close to the parking lot and there were five to eight minutes left, she would walk through the Villas and past the clubhouse in SaddleBrooke One, returning at the exact ending time!
Martha announced in February of 2020 that she was stepping back from leading the walks, but with the start of the pandemic in March of 2020, the Hiking Club suspended all activities. Some of the walkers decided to informally resume walking with precautions. They really wanted their exercise outdoors, and it made the isolation a little more bearable. When they resumed all hiking activities in September of 2020 with restrictions, members volunteered as daily leaders, with another as back-up. Another Martha—one who would be there every day—could not be found. Numbers have varied in the ensuing years; more join in the winter and fewer in the summer. Others find themselves less able to walk regularly in our aging process or participate less often.
Hawkins sends the following invitation: “If you like the idea of getting out in the quiet of the morning, maybe building some endurance for a hike, enjoying the wildlife we see all around us, are new and want to get acquainted with some of your fellow residents and have interesting and fun conversations, please come to the parking lot adjacent to the bocce ball court in SaddleBrooke One.”
Fitness Walk Start Times:
Sept. 1 through Oct. 31 (fall): 6:30 a.m.
Nov. 1 through March 31 (winter): 7 a.m.
April 1 through May 31 (spring): 6:30 a.m.
June 1 through Aug. 31 (summer): 6 a.m.
For more information, contact Leslie Hawkins at 509-947-1838 or Hawkins.leslie.a@gmail.com.