Mike Wardian Joins MedStar to Promote Active Lifestyle

WTOP/Luke Lukert

Mike Wardian has run marathons on all seven continents and logged more than 300 marathons and ultramarathons over his career. Last week, he put those miles to work for a different kind of cause.

Wardian, joined by MedStar Health physical therapist Chris Heydrick and physician assistant Chris Wilde, ran more than 170 miles over four days from Leonardtown, Maryland to Baltimore as part of an initiative called Miles Across MedStar. The route passed through Washington, DC, with stops at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and MedStar Washington Hospital Center, before finishing at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center on Thursday.

The event was coordinated by the MedStar Health Research Institute, which studies how lifestyle interventions affect healthy aging, with a focus on cognition, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease. At each hospital stop, the trio encouraged patients and staff to move more, with the message kept deliberately modest. Nobody was pitching a 50K. Walking the neighborhood, yoga, and table tennis all made the list.