Steps and Tracking Step Progress

I am a list maker and record keeper. I am not totally obsessive about it, but at times keeping a record going or not breaking a streak (e.g., running at least 25 miles a week) has become extremely important. As with other aspects of my life, I try to develop moderation.

Based on the records of 45 years as a runner I know that I circumnavigated the world almost two times (50,000 miles). Even as I have become a walker/hiker instead of a runner, I estimate that I walked this past year the distance (1500 miles) to and from Estes Park to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

I got a Fitbit almost 10 years ago and this tech piece is both a bane and a boom to my life. Becoming a slave to it is easy with constant checking to see where I am with “steps for the day.” I confront the weekly summary with both anticipation and dread depending on how I have evaluated the previous week’s activity level.

Nevertheless, I love the opportunity to record opportunities for movement. I seldom sit still for periods of time unless engrossed in writing. My cats can attest that a lap sit is nice, but they never know how long it will last before I bounce up, or more likely these days, groan and slowly rise.

When the pandemic began, I had no place to go. I walked. I set my Fitbit goal at 20,000 steps a day and was successful most days. After life began in postdemic, I dropped that goal to 18,000 steps a day and matched it most days. Recently I was ill with the flu and then a respiratory infection and had to curtail my usual walking. I averaged only 8500 steps a day during my lowest week. I contrast that to our hiking trip in May to the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland where I averaged 33,500 steps a day for a week.

I maintain the goal of 15,000 (average) a day and hope that no matter what, I get at least 10,000 steps. I try to walk/hike every day and I feel relief in not pushing for a hard goal. I remind myself to focus on taking the steps and not obsessing about the number. I continue to wonder as I wander.