10,000 steps

October 26, 2015

Sooooo I bought into the Fitbit craze and got a Flex. So it was $90 I probably shouldn't have spent, but hey. I don't have any serious vices. Why not have another fun gadget? (Maybe gadgets are a vice - who knows?)

I work in an office setting, plus I write. That's a lot of time at a desk. To counter that I generally take a walk in the park on my lunch break. The first full day of having the Fitbit, I logged 5047 steps. Whoa, baby. Really? I did that many without varying my routine at all? I rather impressed myself. Halfway there without actually trying. 

Being a pragmatic sort, I realized right then and there that 10,000 steps a day, every day, might be out of range. I set a goal of 5500 for the next day and added five minutes to my lunchtime stroll. I ended up at 5322 for the day. 

Okay. That told me I needed to add a purposeful walk around the office building, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. This is over and above going to other offices to check on my charges. This would just be a flyby. Let 'em wonder what the hell the office manager is up to.  The added five minutes and two flybys got me to 6686. 

At this point I'm not sure the Fitbit is adding correctly. That's a quite a jump. 

Friday. A twenty-seven minute walk in the park, two flybys and bowling night. Total=7944.  Hmm. I would have thought bowling would add more, but it is what it is. 

Fast forward to the next Friday and the same routine got me to 8790. By now I'm really confused about the way this gadget measures steps. 

Saturday, October 24. Great weather. I made up my mind I was going to hit TEN THOUSAND steps or fucking die trying. 

As it happened, we had quite a To Do list for the day. First up - an early morning pantry run to Wal-Mart (yeah, yeah) to restock the larder. After that a few chores in the yard including climbing up and down a ladder a few times and a trip to fill up the gas cans and get diesel for the John Deere. All of that and I'm at about 7000 steps. Fine. I set out for a walk in the woods, taking the two-mile loop. It's almost four o'clock when I get home and the Fitbit says I've only gone 9467 steps. Fuck. Me.

I can do this. I can go another 500 or so steps. I CAN DO THIS! I walked down to my mailbox and back. That's 975 feet out the lane and 975 feet back in. I know it's that far. I measured the distance when I had to pay a contractor to scrape off the topsoil and put the first one hundred ton of stone down back in 1981. I look at the read-out on my phone and it says 9989. 

BITE ME! 

A few steps around the house and the Fitbit gizmo vibrated. According to modern tech, I'd made the whopping big total of 10,007 steps and it was still daylight. By the end of the day I'd registered 10,539 steps. I got the badge. 

What's my take-away from Saturday's exercise? I'm not crazy enough, or obsessive enough, for the Fitbit craze. If I don't get 10,000 steps a day, who the hell cares? Not me. I'll continue to play with my gadget because, admittedly, it's a way to remind me to take those extra strolls around the office and add a few minutes to my mid-day walk when possible. But from now on, I'm counting along with the Fitbit.  

KC
www.kckendricks.com
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