Shirley Keen finds walking gives her some control over her life.

​​Walking 500m was all Shirley Keen could manage a couple of years ago. She realised, with the progression of her arthritis and her weight, “if I didn’t do something about it I literally wouldn’t be able to walk.”

A bit at a time, she increased her steps and when Wilderness spoke with her, she’d lost 25kg and not missed a day walking in 405 consecutive days; over a year of 5am starts and 5km every morning before work.

But it gets harder than that. Last year Shirley’s husband was diagnosed with cancer and a few months later she lost her son in an accident.

“I think that walking got me through,” she says, “it’s something  you can have control over.”

Photography is also a motivator and a moderator – she participates  in challenges, like a letter of the alphabet each day: “J and Q are not easy!” And rather than taking a break, she takes a picture, “a rest without taking a rest.”

The distraction of focussing on what she can do gets her through the difficult patches.

Now 138km into the Walk1200km challenge, Shirley says she appreciates the community: “Walking is part of my life now. It’s good to make a commitment to do this with other people.”

Join Shirley and thousands of others in making 2023 your best year ever. Join Walk1200km.