Decades ago, I used to run pain-free and measure myself by my mile splits run over long distances. In recent years, I have measured myself by the total distance I ran, biked, walked, and swam. These days, I find myself retired from running, the weather too cold to swim, and my bike badly needing new brakes. And so, I walk.
I hear that you are supposed to walk 10,000 steps a day. I can’t seem to do that. I’m very satisfied when I get in half that amount daily. I have enjoyed seeing how many steps I can take in a day, setting new personal bests from time to time. And then on Saturday, this happened to ruin that forever …
More steps than usual? No kidding! Over 18,000 steps broke walking for me. I will not hit that amount of steps again. It wasn’t intentional. I took a morning walk. After picking my dog up from the groomers, I rewarded her with a second walk in a new park. And then I cut the front lawn. That was more than enough steps for me. But my wife notified me that rain in Biblical proportions was headed our way. Why not? We already have the COVID-19 plague. Our back lawn was looking long enough that if I delayed cutting it for a few more days, I would have needed a machete rather than a mower.
So, I spent my Saturday night mowing the back lawn as I topped 18,000 steps. I then spent Sunday icing my knee and complaining about the rain that seemed to make the grass grow right in front of our eyes as we watched it come down.
Now I’ve broken walking. I’m a long strider. I will never get back to 18,000 steps walking the way I do now.
Maybe there is a way. Maybe I need to take baby steps toward those 18,000 steps … literally.
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 