Sticking with a streak: Sioux Falls man commits to daily walk with multiple benefits

Brad Green joked that he wanted to be like The Proclaimers song and walk 500 miles.

As of Sunday, he has walked nearly 558 miles in a streak of 278 days.

That’s 278 days of a walk outside. In the rain. The snow. The heat. Before work. After work. When he felt motivated. When he didn’t feel like doing it at all.

It started June 1, 2022. The 39-year-old from Sioux Falls laced up his basketball shoes and thought, “I’ll just go for a walk today.”

He walked 1.6 miles, and a streak was born.

“It just felt like the right time to do something,” Green said. His girlfriend was training for a marathon, and he had never had a set exercise program. “My mom was a walker, and my dad did a little too. After my mom died, just looking back, it’s something I can do by myself, and I can be outside.”

Green doesn’t listen to music or walk with anyone else. “It’s just me and the elements, and it’s peaceful,” he said. “I used to do it early before work. Now, I do it even late at night sometimes.”

He has walked in different states – around his hotel when on a trip to Des Moines and in downtown Minneapolis near the Vikings stadium for day 250.

“I lace up my shoes and put a coat on,” Green said with a laugh. “You got to keep going. You don’t want to break the streak.”

He didn’t necessarily start walking to lose weight, but he takes a selfie at the end of every walk.

“You can tell from my face that I’ve lost some weight,” Green said. “I always thought that I couldn’t lose weight, and look at me now. I’ve proven myself wrong. I get such a rush. During the blizzard, I was like, I have to walk. I put on a big coat and went out there. Doctors say get 30 minutes of exercise, and I’ve blown that out of the water.”

He usually walks about a half-hour, but for his 100th day, he walked for an hour. “That was a good day,” Green said.

He has shared his progress with friends and family, both on social media and through text messages – with how long and how far he walked and a smiling selfie.

“It’s nice to have people supporting you and wanting you to succeed,” Green said. “In a recent post, I have heard from family and friends and former teachers and classmates from high school and college. I must be doing something right.”

It also has inspired his dad to begin walking more.

Green finds meaning wherever he goes. He and his dad walked in the Avera Race Against Cancer to support a cause that’s close to them.

He walked at Target Field, past the Kirby Puckett statue and the Tradition Wall. “Here’s where my heroes played the game, and I have my name on the wall. I found my name,” Green said. He has always loved team sports but has enjoyed the solitude of his individual activity too.

Green prefers to walk outside, noting his southeastern Sioux Falls neighborhood has pretty good sidewalks. Plus, it’s a chance to connect with others. “I was walking the other day and saw four or five people out with their dogs.”

A quick search of “walking benefits” pulls up everything from improving your mental health to reducing your risk of heart disease and cancer. A study published last year in JAMA Internal Medicine and JAMA Neurology points to the benefits of a half-hour of walking at a brisk pace every day to reduce risks of dementia and death.

This is all just a side benefit for Green, whose consistency has built a habit and now a lifestyle.

It’s not always easy. On Mondays, Green works all day in customer service and then bowls in a league. “A couple of weeks ago, I didn’t get in until 11 p.m., but you still got to do it,” he said. “Even if it’s just for 15 minutes.”

On a recent icy day? “I just walked around the block once – I was slipping pretty good.”

He said if you’re thinking of heading out for a walk, you should, streak or no streak. “This winter has been tough, I’m not gonna lie. But it’s still fun to be out there,” Green said.

“It just gives you some purpose and some focus, and it makes you feel good.

“To be the man that ‘walked a thousand miles’ would be pretty cool,” Green said of the next line in The Proclaimers song. But for now, the goal is a year. That’s a big one.”