On August 1, 1999, Polly Letofsky left her home in Vail, Colorado, and headed west. She traveled across 4 continents, 22 countries, and over 14,000 miles by foot to become the first American woman to walk around the world. As an awareness campaign for breast cancer, survivors and well-wishers around the world came out to walk with her. Every day strangers welcomed her into their homes and shared meals. Across four continents she had dinner conversations with poets, politicians, country singers, olive growers, pig farmers and the female bomb maker in Australia. The world had embraced her. But in the middle of Polly s five-year journey, the world suddenly shifted on its axis when September 11 flung us all into a crossroads in world history. Polly s GlobalWalk has been featured in over 2,000 newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations around the world including Good Housekeeping, CNN International, The CBS Early Show, NBC s Your Total Health, and Fine Living Channel s Radical Sabbatical. A documentary Polly s GlobalWalk has recently been released by Newcastle Productions. Her book, 3 mph is due out in April 2010. To rapt audiences, she richly details her journey with humor and honest reflection, the good times and the hardships. She tells of how she took on the challenge of a life-long dream and learned quickly how to adapt to a swiftly changing world and to always live on the edge of her comfort zone. Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always inspirational, Polly s program personifies the spirit of commitment and perseverance that will compel you to conquer life s challenges one step at a time.
Polly Letofsky spent five years walking around the world, and six years writing the book about it. But it was worth it, her long awaited first book, 3mph: The Adventures of One Woman's Walk Around the World has won top honors at the 2011 IPPY Awards as Best Travel Memoir, and more recently Best Memoir at the 2011 Writer's Digest Annual Book Awards.
Invite Polly to your book club! Polly has made a unique offer to readers of 3mph. If your book club reads 3mph she would be honored to visit your book club as well! She can visit by Skype, or if you're in the Denver metro area the club usually has a pot luck of the foods represented in her book. (She tended to talk about food a lot...), and sure, maybe some of the wines of the various countries as well. Please feel free too email Polly directly if your club would like to visit. (No, there's no charge -- just feed her.) polly@3mphbook.com.
"Polly's GlobalWalk -- The Documentary" has been produced by Newcastle Productions, currently showing on PBS channels across the United States (and available on Amazon).
She currently lives in Denver where she works as a professional keynote speaker and is President of the Colorado Business Women's Network. She bikes, loves animals, and still walks, but usually just to the Whole Foods.
