Meet Carolyn
Words from Walkers
“You were so awesome to walk with and I'm blessed to have met you. Thank you for what you do.”
— Terri Gaertner, CURE Day of
Caring, Denver Co
“You are a good teacher, no a great teacher. I found our walks to be one of the most rewarding experiences of the weekend. I really had a feeling of opening up all my senses and it was so relaxing.”
— James Lasker, MD, Life
Beyond Cancer Retreat, Miraval
Chasing stories and racing deadlines was as close as Carolyn Scott Kortge (Cor’chi) came to athletic effort for much of her life. During a 20-year journalism career at the Oshkosh (WI) Daily Northwestern, The Wichita Eagle-Beacon in Kansas, and The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon, Carolyn earned national recognition. The American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors named her one of "The Best."
The Writer Meets A Hidden Athlete: In the mid-1980s, when walking picked up speed as a national trend, Carolyn wrote feature articles about this alternative to jogging. Before long, curiosity pulled her into the action. One step led to another and in her mid-40s, she found herself entering the first track meet of her life.
Steps of Discovery: Athletic competition brought medals and a path of personal discovery. "I realized that the mental tools I had learned as a competitive athlete were basically the same focusing techniques I had used as methods of meditation. Athletic focus and spiritual practice joined together as spirited walking." In The Spirited Walker: Fitness Walking for Clarity, Balance, and Spiritual Connection she chronicles a mid-life transition from “klutz” to athlete and introduces walks that move from sole to soul.
Journey Through Cancer: Two years after publication of The Spirited Walker, a cancer diagnosis propelled Carolyn to another life-changing path. Walking guided her through treatment and gave validity to taking one step at a time. As she recovered, she volunteered to deliver a series of walking classes in her medical center’s parking lot. Word of the program traveled to US Oncology and carried her to cancer centers across the United States to present her Walking Well® program. Healing Walks for Hard Times: Quiet Your Mind, Strengthen Your Body, & Get Your Life Back expands the course into a guided eight-week walking program that restores momentum when life delivers a hurdle.
Taking Age in Stride: Ever open to new challenges, Carolyn approached senior status with typical resilience: she decided that if you can’t escape it, embrace it. In 2014, she returned to The Register-Guard newspaper with “Not the Retiring Type,” a personal column that addresses challenges, aspirations, and passions that keep life vibrant through the decades.
Off the Trail and On: Carolyn makes her home in Eugene, OR, with her husband, Dean, her favorite walking companion. They've walked the 100-mile Cotswold Trail in England and trekked 120 miles on
the Coast to Coast trail in northern England. In 2014, they joined pilgrims from around the world to travel 275 miles on the legendary Santiago de Compostela trail in northern Spain.