I’ve been meaning to post about this for a few weeks, but I got sidetracked by a few other things. Scale Warfare posted this great idea about challenging herself to take a certain number of steps between July 1 and Labor Day (Sept. 7th). I love the idea, and I’m always looking for a new goal/challenge, so I decided to join in on the fun.
Since today is Independence Day, I figure it will be perfect to begin the challenge. Two major American holidays (4th of July and Labor Day), one that marks our nation’s birth and the other that celebrates labor workers and the end of summer, will be nice “bookends” for this challenge.
I wasn’t really sure how many steps to challenge myself to complete each day. 10,000 per day might be pushing it, and 8,000 seemed like too few, so I split it down the middle and decided on 9,000 steps per day. So, 9,000 X 66 days = 594,000 steps. That equals 297 miles! Wow, that really adds up.
Update – 7/7/09 – After using the pedometer two days in a row and being fairly active, I only logged in an average of 6700-6900 steps. So, I’m changing my daily challenge amount to 7000. I’m not at the activity level (even with all I’m doing each day) of anywhere near 10,000 or even 9,000 steps. So, 7000 X 66 days = 462,000 which is still a hell of a lot of steps and about 231 miles!
This will also be a great way for me to kick up my walking regimen since I’m finished with the WW Walk-It Blog-It Challenge. I still have the Golden Gate Bridge 5K coming up in a couple of weeks, and I want to keep training for it. Plus, once my Sketchers Shape-Ups get here, I’m sure I’m going to want to walk even more than usual to get the full benefits of the shoes.
So, why don’t you join me in setting a Steps to Labor Day goal for yourself! (I’m going to get my pedometer out now!)
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Update: I walked for 30 minutes, and wasn’t very active the rest of the day (played Wii Fit and Wii Sports, but mostly did a lot of reading/t.v. watching), but I still got in 6749 steps!
WOW! This is a great idea. I think I am going to do it too. Just have to figure out how many steps I will take…hmmm! Good luck!
Thanks for the link!!! When I first started tracking my steps, my goal was to get in 6.000 a day. I then added another 500 to the total every few weeks or month and now I’m working at hitting 8,500 per day! I think your goal of 7,000 a day is great! Somedays you might be short, but if you take a longer weekend walk, you will certainly make up for it.
Oh and I did get in the pool and it was fabulous
Thank you for the inspiration!
I am so glad you made it in the pool! I’m glad you enjoyed it, and happy to be any sort of extra “push” you might need.
BTW, today I’ve racked up 8685 steps (it’s about 9pm), and that doesn’t even include the time I was in the pool for Aqua Aerobics! Not bad at all!!
Awesome job!!!
RE/Counting points for steps. The only days that I count my steps for activity points are the days where I didnt do any formal excercise. I dont know why, but that just makes sense to me
Some days without formal excercise I can get in 10,000 steps and I want those bad boys to count!
Ya, that makes the most sense to me, too. That’s how I plan on doing it.