Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Wellness Wednesday: Lacing Up


I have to say that walking and counting steps can be a bit monotonous.

For the last couple of months I have enjoyed my half hour to hour walk every day, taking different routes and taking in the changing seasons. Now that the leaves have all filled in we've entered full-blown monotonyville. I also know myself well enough that with my kids home for the summer, I will more than likely find plenty of reasons to do other things rather than walk, right?

My inspiring on-line friend Brenda posted a lovely project late last week. What struck me wasn't the project, though it is a really great idea; the focus of the post, which is about setting goals and gratitude; but her phrase "virtual walk across America". Ding, ding, ding!

How do I get in on that?

I need a goal. A challenge. A something.

So I googled (what did I ever do without google?) "virtual walk across Canada" and it came up with a few really great sites and information. Now I've signed up on the Trans Canada Trail to keep track of my progress. Country Harvest also has a virtual walk: 300,000 steps in 30 days.

As it turns out, if I were to actually walk across Canada, from capital to capital, I would cover a distance of approximately 37,140,000 steps! This would take close to 9 months walking 24 hours a day! But hey, as goals go, it's a pretty big one.

Right now, I'm just happy set a new goal to walk my 10,000 steps a day for 30 days. I currently walk 2 kilometres each day which is equal to about 4,000 steps. Other than running laundry up and down stairs and housework, it is really the only conscious exercise I do. Sad. But there is a reason my butt is my butt!

6 comments:

thekreativelife said...

Lee . . . are you psychic? lol

I'm starting a new project today, which I'm calling "The Journey of 10,000 Steps". Wanna join me? I decided to super glue my camera to my body today and I'm taking pictures of EVERYTHING. Each step of the way. (I'm also thinking about having my family drop me off at the end of the highway on the way home from town, which is about two to three miles, just to liven things up a bit.)

Jayne said...

Congratulations fo rsticking with yoru original goal! That is GREAT!! You should be proud of yourself - it is a hard thing to do sticking with anything but espeically the "e" word!

L~ said...

yea!! You can do this!! how fun!?

Anonymous said...

Good for you, Lee! I'm a firm believer in holding that carrot on the end of the exercise stick, whether it's a set number of steps each day or miles over a longer period of time. The actual distance on the virtual Walk Across America is longer than I wanted to tackle too, but they gave options in steps, minutes or a conversion of .1 = 1 mile. I was walking anyway...it's just fun to think you're in West Virginia, Kansas or California. And perhaps when I reach the end, I'll make the return trip on your Canada trail.

Just having a pedometer on (I assume that's how you're keeping track of your steps) will make you more aware and I'll bet you'll be surprised how quickly those steps start to add up. We can encourage one another! Brenda

Lynn said...

I was in a place 5 years ago that I needed a goal. I did the Honolulu Marathon with Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. It was a great program, and I did The Nike 26.2... San Francisco Marathon the next year. I mentored for two more races. Good luck on your virtual walk and keep us posted!

Lee said...

Kyla, you make me laugh! NO, not psychic, but wouldn't that be fun? Good luck with your endeavour! And, Brenda, I'm just using a formula (since I have never found a decent pedometer): 1,000 steps for each 10 minute walked (moderate pace); or,
1 kilometre estimated as approximately 2,000 steps.