70k Challenge Mid-Year Update!

This year, I did something I’ve never done before. I joined one of those fitness tracking groups that you see a lot of in January and then they fade away by March. Well, not this group, holy hell, this is a year long commitment baby! Yearlong! What did I commit to? Nothing major, just making sure I hit 70,000 steps a week, which is 10,000 steps per day, the random number of steps you “need” each day to be “healthy”. Well, since I was averaging around 5,000-6,000 steps a day for the days I wasn’t doing yard work, or volunteering at school, I thought it would be a good thing to commit to. Plus, since the people are all on Twitter, you know they’ll keep me accountable. At the halfway mark, how are things going? Pretty darn good. I’ve gotten a streak of 116 days with 10,000 steps, that’s never happened in my life. I dropped 6 lbs, and I’ve only had one week so far that I didn’t make the goal. 1 week! That’s impressive for me!

Commitment Time

In January, I saw Miss Mazuma (because Miss Money Bags was taken…) post something about this challenge and group. They had more than the original planned members, but I was able to join just the same. Whew! 2 weeks in I realized a 52 week commitment is a looooong time and wondered what I’d gotten myself into. At first I was very competitive and had loads of free time to rack up steps.

Mostly, this was due to the kids being in school, so I could go hike 3-4 times a week, or run in the neighborhood, or just walk in the neighborhood. The enthusiasm has waned since then and man, kids at home during the summer means a HUGE monkeywrench in my plans. I can’t leave them alone while I go for a run/walk/yard work/etc… so, the treadmill has become my closest friend/torture device. Boo… Only 2.5 weeks until school starts again! Yay!! I mean, oh how much I’ll miss my little angels around here every day, all day. So sad…

So far, the group has been really fun and supportive. Like the Hunger Games, we’ve had people dropping out all year. What started as a group of 13 turned into a group of 8. There can be only one!! Wait, wrong movie, but you get the idea. The point of the team was that if you miss a week, you pay $5, at the end , the highest stepper gets some of the pot, and maybe the people that never paid get something. I don’t know, you can tell I’m not motivated by the money, but those were the basic rules. Like any good group, we’ve come up with a word for ourselves, accountabilibuddies.

Accountabilibuddies

What the hell is that word?! It’s pronounced Account-uh-bill-i-buddies. Accountabilibuddies! These are the people in the group with me that keep me accountable or making my step commitment each week. When I’m low energy on a day, or low on steps for the week, I can put that out to the group and they rally with all sorts of nice reassuring, encouraging talk to get me to the goal. It’s really helpful having them around. In fact, I’m going out to visit with 2 of them later this month and we’re going to get some steps up in Wisconsin. So who are my accountabilibuddies for this group? It’s a big list, so get ready. Thanks to Miss Mazuma for making this list so I could copy it. 😊

Mindful Cents
Miss Mazuma
Waffles on Wednesday 
Josh Overmyer
Wade Egmon
Slowly Sipping Coffee
Mrs 1500
JHudsontraffic 

They’ve been a great group of people to be “competing” with, but I think we’re basically competing with ourselves for steps each week. Sure it’s a competition, but you can tell how much I paid attention to the payouts, lol. Also, I think this list is in order of most to least steps, and you can see where I am.

The group did split a month ago or so into a 77k/week group and the 70k/week group. Since we were all getting 70k fairly easily (it still wasn’t easy) it got bumped up to still be a challenge for those who want it. Surprise, surprise, who has been able to hit that goal each? So far, this guy! Woohoo!!

Personal Wins

So far this year, I’ve walked over 2.3 million steps. Ohhhh… Impressive I know! My new goal is to hit 5 million by years end, so I’ll have to kick it up this fall. That’s okay, I’ll have free time again. Glorious, glorious free time!  I hit a streak of 116 days in a row of hitting 10k steps each day.

I’ve also amazed at the fact I’ve stuck with it, even though my watch sucks for this sort of thing. It only shows the last 7 days, so Sunday morning I have to take a screen shot of the last 7 days, then a screenshot of last Sunday, then calculate the steps minus my Sunday steps, plus my last Sunday steps, enter them into the spreadsheet, then enter again 0 steps with the other screenshot. Ugh… As Mrs. SSC says, that looks like a lot of work for a step group… It isn’t but it is one more thing for me to do that fitbit and other people may have an easier time doing. Damn you Garmin!!

Next Year

So, what about next year? Well, Here’s the really exciting stuff. Next year, there should be 2-3 groups of steppers. Those that struggle to hit 10k/steps per day, there will be a 70k/week group. Do you routinely get 10k or close to that per day and want a challenge? There’s a group for you! For high steppers that want to just compete with other high steppers, there’s even a group for you!

If you’re interested, Miss Mazuma wrote a post about it, with contact info. Mrs 1500 also wrote a post and has contact info if you want a spot for the 2020 group.

Until then, I need to hit the treadmill. Only 2.5 weeks of summer left…