Fifty days – a good long break from this blog.  No particular reason. It just happened.  My last post talked about 450 consecutive days of walking five miles or more.  Little did I know that the next day would mark the end of that streak.  After 451 days, I pulled a groin muscle a bit and thought it best to just get through that without strain.  On the fourth day, I hit 10,000 steps, but was short of 5.0 miles.

Today is now the 45th day in the next streak.

But I’m thinking about this walking thing a bit differently.  When I posted on LinkedIn that my streak ended at 451 days, Rod Burkert commented with words to the effect that it is the habit that is important, and not the streak.  Thanks, Rod!

So today marks 496 days out of the last 500 days that I have walked 5 miles or more.  That’s a 99.2% statistic. The average for the entire period is 6.1 miles per day and 12,900 steps per day, including my four days of “slack” when I took a break.

The streaks are nice, of course.  But I feel better about the habit of walking and moving.  A good portion of those steps come while I play pickleball, which is a passion of mine.

At this point, walking/pickleball is just something I do.  I wake up each morning deciding how I’ll achieve the minimum goal of 5.0 miles that day.  Often, I’ll take a two mile or so walk before breakfast.  That’s a great start on the day (4,200 steps or so).

I usually walk a bit during each day, particularly after lunch.  By the time the workday is over, I usually have at least 6,500 steps (3 miles).

At that point in the day, I will either go to play pickleball, or plan for another walk.  I know each day that I’ll get my steps and miles because I’ve decided to do it that day.  And that is rain or shine, cold or hot, snow or ice.  There’s always a hack to get steps if you are committed to doing it.

I spoke with a friend a couple of weeks ago for the first time since before the pandemic began.  We talked about walking and my previous posts.  He asked me about the walking.  I told him that it was instrumental in allowing me to lose 12 pounds in the last year or so.  He said that he had done just the opposite, and gained 10 pounds.

We talked some more and he said he was going to start walking.  I checked with him yesterday morning.  He said he had walked 10,197 steps the previous day and was planning to keep up the walking.  It is gratifying when one’s good habits can influence others for the good.  Let’s not even talk about bad habits!

Here’s to the habit of walking!

Please do comment below.

Until next time, and it won’t be 50 days!

Chris

P.S. It is 8am on Day 500.  I’ve walked 3+ miles and 6,800 steps.  Well on the way to today’s goal.  And I have pickleball this afternoon.  In the bag barring some surprise.  Keep moving!