Participating in team wellness challenges has been a great way to help me to remember to move before, during, and after the work day. Our walking team (Shamrock n’ Roll) recently won the latest NC Wellness Miles for Wellness walking challenge in the Super Hare division. Each person walked 182 steps more a day than the members of the 2nd place team. That doesn’t seem like a lot of steps does it? But when I look back on where we started 1 1/2 years ago I realize that it was a lot more than 182 steps a day.
The first challenge our team participated in we placed 105th in the Super Hare Division. (Super Hare team members average 70,000 to 105,000 steps a week.) We walked a total of 6,006,614 steps or 3,003 miles.
- I walked 556,461 steps this challenge which averaged out to 9,900 steps a day.
- I started to try to get in 2,000 steps a day at work. I took walking breaks. I emptied my recycling bin every day. I would walk to people’s desk to have conversations rather than respond via email. I tried to take the stairs more or take the long way back to my work space from a meeting.
- My highest day was 23,420 steps when we helped my brother and his family move-in.
- It only takes 131 steps to make cupcakes but it takes 7,500 steps to run around a playground with nieces/nephews for 2 hours.
- My favorite steps from this challenge was a kayaking trip we did near Beaufort, NC. This walking challenge uses conversions for activities that are not walking. Activities such as gardening, biking, kayaking, and yoga convert into a pre-set amount of steps that the spreadsheet automatically calculates.
The second challenge our team placed 23rd in the Super Hare Division. Our team walked a total of 6,869,258 steps or 3,435 miles.
- I walked 760,120 steps and averaged 13,574 steps.
- I tried to get in at least 3,000 steps a day at work.
- Highest step count was 23,959 steps. I spent 1 1/2 hours gardening/weeding and then spent the day packing and getting ready to spend Thanksgiving out of town.
- I tried hot yoga during this challenge. That converted to a lot of steps and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.
This most recent challenge. Our team walked 8,398,687 steps. That’s approximately 4,199 miles!
- I walked 802,740 steps this challenge and averaged 14,335 steps a day.
- I tried to make sure I had hit 4,000 steps at work during the day.
- There was one Saturday/Sunday where I walked a combined 49,532 steps. I was pretty tired by Sunday night from a hike, helping my parents move, helping neighbors with their landscaping/weeding, and walking our hound dog.
- One of the reasons my step count for the most recent challenge was so high was I recently started adding at least 60 minutes of weight training to my exercise routine each week. That converted to a lot of steps. There was one day I hit 10,000 steps by 9am because I had done 60 minutes of weight training and walked the dog 2 miles before work!
If you are an employee of the State of North Carolina, the 17th Miles for Wellness walking challenge sign-up will start on August 28th. The 2017 Holiday Challenge will also be featuring another Racery virtual walking race this year. Looking forward to seeing you on the virtual trail!