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Health & Fitness

Ten Toe Express Program offers opportunity to get out and explore St. Louis with your own ten toes, MetroLink and MetroBus

Exciting walking program in St. Louis sponsored by Citizens for Modern Transit that makes becoming a tourist in your own town quick and easy!

With millions of steps logged, the Ten Toe Express walking program sponsored by Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) will hit the streets again the week of Sept. 10 for the Fall 2012 session.  Kicking off on Friday, September 7 with a special walk and tour of the Campbell House Museum in Downtown St. Louis and running for twelve weeks. For the sixth year, Citizens for Modern Transit will host the walking program, which pairs using MetroLink and MetroBus with regular exercise. 

Following the tremendous success of the spring session, CMT encourages Missouri and Illinois residents to come out to any of our registration events and put their own ten toes to the pavement and link with MetroLink and MetroBus to become a tourist in your own town.  You can also register online at www.tentoes.cmt-stl.org or stop by our office at 911 Washington Ave, Ste. 200. 

The Ten Toe Express program is designed to help area residents increase their independence, accessibility and overall health by learning how to utilize MetroBus and the MetroLink when heading to countless numbers of St. Louis area destinations. Online tools and the ability to join as many as 60 different guided walk tours during the 12 week fall session make it easy for individuals to familiarize themselves with the process. Ten Toe Walk Maps, with very detailed directions to as many as 100 different regional destinations, are available for those who prefer self-guided tours. Spend a morning with one of our walking groups and head out to some of St. Louis hidden gems by using MetroLink, MetroBuys or your own Ten Toes.  We have walking groups that begin at the Shrewsbury, Brentwood, and Forest Park MEtroLink Stations in Missouri and the Belleville MetroLink Station in Illinois. 

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The program also aims to improve overall health by providing access to walking and eating logs, checklists, tools to measure and record steps, stretching tips, background on the benefits of exercise, tickets and nutritional education. 

We regularly receive letters, emails and phone calls from Ten Toe participants letting us know how positively the program has impacted them. Some who have never taken the bus or MetroLink before are now independently using public transit to get to doctors appointments in the Central West End, the grocery store in Clayton or Richmond Heights and to run errands in Maplewood. Others have lost a lot of weight because they are walking more and eating healthier. The program is having a great social influence as well. Friendships have been made. Independence levels have increased. Participants are having a good time. And, we are excited to now be able to offer these opportunities to Illinois residents.

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Those interested in registering for the Ten Toe Express program can visit any of the open registration events or do so online at www.tentoes.cmt-stl.org.  The process takes about 10 minutes and requires registrants to complete a survey discussing their health knowledge, beliefs, behaviors and barriers, as well as demographics and other general information.  All program participants receive a free Ten Toe tote bag, a pedometer, weekly walk logs and food diaries, St. Louis maps, safety tips, tickets, and more. Registration only costs $5 for new and re-registering participants.  Registration events will be held at the following locations: 

Fall 2012 REGISTRATION EVENTS

Friday, August 10, Southwestern IL College-Program & Services for Older Persons Dining Hall, 201 North Church Street, Belleville, IL 62220, 10am-1pm

Wednesday, August 15, CMT Office, 911 Washington, St. Louis, MO 63101, 10 to 1 p.m.

Tuesday, August 28, Forest Park Visitors Center, Oasis, 5595 Grand Drive, St. Louis, MO 63112, 11:30am-1:30pm 

Wednesday, August 29, MetroRide Store in the America’s Center, Washington Ave., St. Louis, MO 63101, 10am-12pm

Thursday, August 30, Clayton Community Center, Clayton Oasis, 50 Gay Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105, 11:30am-1:30pm

Friday, August 31, Southwestern IL College-Program & Services for Older Persons Dining Hall, 201 North Church Street, Belleville, IL 62220, 10am-1pm  

Thursday, Sept. 6, CMT Office, 911 Washington, St. Louis, MO 63101, 10 to 1 p.m.

Tuesday, September 18, Emerson Family YMCA Senior Health Fall Jam, 3390 Pershall Rd., St. Louis, MO 63135, 9am-12pm

Those who have participated in the program in the past and would like to participate again, need to re-register for the program at www.cmt-stl.org by submitting their $5 re-registration fee or by mailing a check to CMT at 911 Washington, Ste. 200, St. Louis, MO 63101. Re-registrants must have their request in by August 20, 2012 in order to receive their re-registration packet in the mail. There is no need for re-registrants to attend a registration event. Their packets will be mailed directly to their homes.

To learn more about the Ten Toe Program, visit www.tentoes.cmt-stl.org or call Citizens for Modern Transit at 314-231-7272. Funding for this project is provided by the St. Clair County Transit District through an Illinois Congestion Mitigation and Quality Improvement grant.

Citizens for Modern Transit is a not-for-profit organization in St. Louis whose mission is to expand the light rail system in order to build more sustainable, accessible communities in the region.

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