Walking challenge: Checking out Vail, Colorado

Well, I have completed month No. 4 in my walking challenge with my daughter Mallory.

As you may recall, she issued a challenge to me for increasing my steps in 2014. The challenge is to “virtually walk” from the Los Angeles City Hall building to a courthouse square in Portland, Maine. It equals 3,085 miles.

I exceeded my winter goal in January and February. I wanted to average 7 miles per day for those two months.

I had an outstanding March – hitting more than 323 miles, or 10.44 miles per day. That brought my 3-month total to 774.11 miles, or 8.6 miles per day.

Well, then April came along. I started out strong, but  hit a patch of about 10 days where I either found myself busy in the evenings and too tired in the mornings to work out, OR, more appropriately, I hit a lazy streak.

I finished April with only 150.44 miles, or 5.01 miles per day. Half of what I intended. I have no one to blame but myself.

Rather than beat myself up, I have recommitted for May. I know I need to make up the miles lost in April. I doubt I can seriously do that in one month, so I plan to increase my steps in May and June, so I can average 9 miles per day for the first half of the year. If I do that, it will bring me to 1,629 miles. If I do that, it will leave 1,456 miles to go over the last 184 days of the year – just under 8 miles a day.

I need to average 11.55 miles per day over the next two months. That may sound difficult, but it isn’t. I have to commit to working out in the morning, before starting my day, and then to take my walk breaks during the work day. On weekends, I need to commit to a nice walk during the day. This is all achievable.

So, time to get off the sofa and back to work. Next update is early June.