Walking Goals and help me choose my 2023 challenge
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Walking Goals and help me choose my 2023 challenge
Long post, but the background gives context. When I first started walking, I was counting steps. But as time has gone on, I have become more interested in extra intentional walking rather than steps that occur naturally in my day.
I started with a goal of 5 miles per week of intentional walking, thinking that I could walk one mile most, but not all, days of the week. In September, I did pretty well with that and walked about 20 intentional miles that month. In October I decided to increase my goal to 7 miles a week, basically a mile a day.
At the end of October, I decided to sign up for the 100 mile dog lovers challenge, aiming to finish by end of year, and only count miles walked with my dog. With a little over 60 days left in the year, this meant that I needed to increase my goal to 10 miles a week *and* make sure to keep moving even though the weather was turning cold. When I started, I thought it was unlikely that I would finish by end or year, but I have averaged closer to 2 miles a day! I largely credit the extra motivation from the challenge and the enthusiasm of my canine walking buddy.
Looking forward to next year, I am leaning toward the 500 mile Sesame Street challenge because it closely matches the goal of 10 miles a week and will keep me walking in the new year. A negative for me is that there isn’t a medal for my dog, and it doesn’t increase my walking goal.
Another option is the 1000 mile dog lovers challenge if it stays open. What I would do is roll onto that (counting my first 100 and just adding on). A positive is that it does have a medal for my dog and will motivate me to increase my mileage to closer to 2.5 miles per week p. A negative is that the pins are basically the same, just different mileage numbers (no new dogs) and I’m not sure the challenge extends through the end of 2023.
Thoughts? Suggestions?