SEQUIM — Biomechanist and author Katy Bowman is celebrating her 41st birthday this year by walking 41 miles through the Sequim community.
This is not the first time Bowman has walked to celebrate her birthday; last year, she walked more than 30 miles along the Olympic Discovery Trail to celebrate the end of her 30s. This year, she plans to walk today and Saturday from Sequim to Chimacum, trekking 17 miles the first day and 25 miles the second to see all the places in the community that are practicing small-scale farming for a living.
“I write books about human movement, and on my birthday, March 4, I take it literally and go for a long walk,” she said.
Bowman said this year, she thought it would be interesting to become a little more familiar with the people in the area that are doing the labor for food on foot.
The walk goes hand in hand with her Movement Matters project, composed of essays on movement science, movement ecology and the nature of movement that investigates the potential each person can discover when people shift their understanding from exercise to movement.
“I want to further explore the idea that if you’re not moving, someone else is moving for you — to make the clothes you wear, mine the minerals that make the batteries that unlock your car doors, grow and harvest and transport the food you eat,” Bowman said in a news release.
“Movement Matters invites readers to consider returning, in whatever ways they can, to moving their bodies for what they want to consume.”
She explained she won’t just be reaping the physical benefits of walking but also exploring how walkable her diet can be and meeting others who have changed their lives to be a part of the solution.
Bowman will document her 41-mile walk from her hometown of Sequim and into Chimacum with the aid of a professional photographer.
She also is partnering with Experience Life magazine and participating in an Instagram takeover, where she will share her photos of her two-day journey.
Her walk also is an opportunity to fundraise for the Ron Finley Project, which brings organic food and community to urban areas.
She is excited to connect with the community and learn more about how food-driven the Sequim area is. Her plan is to stop at small, local farms and do a 10-minute tour and demonstrate some of the movements these local producers are making.
“Sometimes we feel like we’re not able to take action without a large event,” Bowman said, explaining that she wants to show others that “it’s OK to set out on foot in your community by yourself.”
Her goal is to educate herself as well as inform and inspire others.
Bowman is the author of eight books including the best-seller “Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement” and “Movement Matters: Essays on Movement Science, Movement Ecology, and the Nature of Movement.” She also has an award-winning podcast that has been downloaded more than 1 million times.
You can follow Bowman on Facebook or Instagram at nutritiousmovement or on Twitter at nutritiousmvmnt.
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Olympic Peninsula News Group is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum.
