Starting January 1, 2011 I embarked on a year long task with a focus on fitness and discipline. Over the prior two years I had the honor and pleasure of walking in two Avon Walks for Breast Cancer with the awesome and amazing Affiliate Marketers Give Back team. I realized while training for and doing those walks that I really like walking – and walking long distance. So I decided that I needed to challenge myself with something that was long, consistent and enduring. My pledge to myself was that I would walk at least 5 miles per day, at least 5 days per week for at least 50 weeks. I called it #5X5X50 – catchy and descriptive.
Looking ahead during that first walk on the first (cold) day of 2011 I thought “how on earth am I going to walk 250 times this year totaling 1,250 miles or more?” By mile one my shins ached, my breath was short and I was just hoping I could get through the first 5 miles. But as I got to mile two, the pain subsided and I found my pace. I completed that day. Then I completed the first week. Next came the first month. By the time I reached that point it was a habit. The miles kept adding up and by mid-year I was genuinely ready for the 2011 Avon Walk in the Rockies. That was a challenge. We walked a marathon day one and a half marathon on day two. The challenge was the altitude and the rolling hills (going mostly uphill). However, it was incredible and my recovery was fast because I was actually in shape!!
During the year, I did take off two weeks just to make sure that I did not burn out. Ironically, during the weeks I took off, my body craved physical activity. When I got back to the daily walking I was even more eager the reach the 5 mile results each day. Finally by the end of December I reached the 250th walk (and 1,325 miles total – including the training and walking for the Avon Walk). Looking back I was not surprised that I did it. But, I was amazed that I stuck to it and enjoyed it so much. I highly recommend this approach to anyone looking for a way to start, continue, and complete an exercise goal. For those with more visual reasoning, here is what 1,325 miles looks like as I tracked it on DailyMile (guess which month had the Avon Walk in it).
For fun, I looked for a relative distance so I could see what 1,325 miles represented. Dallas to Washington, DC was the best view – and here is that map (now that makes me tired).
