Oceanside CA— The American Heart Association’s first annual North County Heart and Stroke Walk took place Saturday, September 30 at the Oceanside Pier. The non-competitive 3.1-mile route(5K) along The Strand, which the estimated 2,000 participants walked or ran, featured teams of employees from local companies, health organizations including Tri-City Medical Center, Scripps Health and Palomar Health, along with many community teams and individuals. Registration was free for the event that included free health screenings and live entertainment. 96.5 FM’s (KyXy) Susan DeVincent was the emcee.

Many of those participating were heart disease or stroke survivors and many were walking in memory of lost loved ones. One of those participating was Celine Showman of Oceanside.
Celine is now a member of the ‘Lucky Thirteen‘ a free Tri-City Medical Center sponsored training program that prepares 13 individuals for the Carlsbad Marathon and Half Marathon. Celine’s life was saved by three Navy Corpsmen, from Camp Pendleton, after her heart stopped beating while she was eating at a local restaurant.[Read Celine’s story here]. “Three miles! No big deal,” said Celine “We are up to seven miles in our Lucky Thirteen training. It use to be a big deal for me though. The turnout for today is great. I’m looking forward to watching the event grow next year. The more people out here the better.”

Heart disease and stroke survivors received special survivor capes to distinguish them from the rest of the pack. For survivors and others that might have medical restrictions, there was a special one mile course.
“The turnout today is outstanding, “said Larry Schallock, a Tri-City Medical Center Board member. “So many people wanted to get involved and support good health. That’s the bottom line.” continued Mr. Schallock, “I live down here and do this walk fairly regularly but I never have this many people to help incentivize me to move along a little faster.”
“The turnout is great but you know, it is what I expected. It’s what we do in North County. It almost makes me want to breakout and sing ‘We are Family’. We come out to events like this. We take care of ourselves up here,” said Tri-City Board Chair, James Dagostino. A spokesperson for the North County event said approximately 400 people participated, a few years ago, in the inaugural San Diego walk.

The goal for organizers of Saturday’s event was creating an environment where participants will learn what they can do to improve their heart and brain health, as well as think about the benefits a healthy lifestyle provides. According to the American Heart Association, walking is the simplest positive change individuals can make to effectively improve their heart health because it’s free, easy and has the lowest dropout rate of any exercise.
The benefits of walking and moderate physical activity for as little as 30 minutes each day can help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke – the number one and number five killers of Americans, respectively.