Your Next 'Around the World' Fitness Journey: Nantucket Island

In the next fitness challenge, Duke staff and faculty are invited to walk the distance around the New England island in September

A graphic reads Around the World Challenge with a globe and landmarks, alongside a graphic of a lighthouse on an island

Erika Huey has never been to the Eiffel Tower. But she knows what it’s like to climb all the way to the top of the Paris landmark – and she has the medal to prove it.

Huey has also never been to Nantucket Island, off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. But she’ll have a chance to experience the feeling of walking the entire distance – 82 miles - around the New England destination in LIVE FOR LIFE’s “Around the World” challenge in September.

“I don’t walk a ton of miles every day, but I do a lot of steps,” Huey said, “so this is a good goal to work for.”

The Nantucket stop for the Around the World challenge by Duke’s employee wellness program will encourage participants to walk at least 6,825 steps per day throughout September.

Registration for the challenge is open, and activity logging takes place Sept. 1 through Sept. 30.

A minimum of 6,825 steps per day – or 2.73 miles – would equal a total of 204,750 steps during the monthlong challenge – which is enough to cover the 82 miles needed to encircle Nantucket Island.

A woman smiles while holding a medal
Erika Huey displays the medal she earned for the inaugural Around the World challenge that tackled the Eiffel Tower. Photo courtesy of Erika Huey

Everyone who meets the challenge and records their activity receives a medal.

During LIVE FOR LIFE’s inaugural Around the World challenge in April, staff and faculty were challenged to climb stairs to equal the height of the Eiffel Tower. Huey tracked her flights of stairs each time she hiked up and down the Science Drive Garage where she parked her car after starting her position in March as Executive Assistant to the Dean at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

She easily logged more than four flights of stairs per day, which was what was needed to total 124 flights – to equal the 1,084-foot height of the Eiffel Tower in one month.

“It definitely made me more aware,” she said. “When I had the choice to take the elevator to go three flights, I said, ‘No, I’m going to get my steps.’”

Huey’s medal now hangs up in her office cubicle.

“I’m new and I don’t have a lot of decorations on my wall, and I thought this might start a conversation with team members and colleagues,” Huey said.

She can tell them all about the month she climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

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