Move One Mile Every Day

On Saturday, Mac’s wife (Dr. Pam) ran for six hours. She completed 42.42 miles in 5 hours, 53 minutes. While I cannot claim that my own fitness endeavors have been quite so grand, I’m pleased nonetheless. And Pam has helped.

As you’ll recall, my goal for January was to begin tracking my calories. My goal for February is to “move at least one mile every day”. So far, so good. As a data geek, I’ve even started a spreadsheet to track my progress:

As you can see, I’ve managed nine consecutive days of moving at least one mile every day. It was close though. Last Wednesday, the fourth, came perilously close to being a day without exercise. I rose early, plopped in front of the computer, and worked for about 12 hours. Still I felt like there was more to be done. Near the end of the day, Pam and I exchanged e-mail. It went something like this:

P: How’s your mile a day plan? Are you running at all?

J.D.: Mile a day is going great. Today is the first day that I haven’t done it. I still could, but I’m not going to. I have to work.

P: I think you should figure out how to do your mile today — that goal isn’t very old, it seems too soon to let it slip. And you say you like it and it is so doable — then go do it!

J.D.: Hm. This is a good point. I mean, I could just go put on my shoes and walk around the block, which takes 20 minutes. Okay. No excuses. I’ll go do it.

And that’s exactly what I did. I stopped working, got up, and walked out the door. I didn’t stop to fuss with my GPS watch (thus reduced stats for the day), and I didn’t bother to change into sneakers. I just went outside and walked around the block.

Aside from that one speedbump, I’ve done a good job of pursuing this goal. I’ve run three days, biked one, and walked five. Twice I’ve incorporated walking into my errands (2.14 miles to drop something at a friend’s house, and 1.77 miles to get a haircut).

On Sunday morning, I got out of bed at 6 a.m., bundled up, and dug my bike out of storage. I had a devil of a time finding all my gear, but eventually I got on the road. I biked into downtown Portland to meet Bernie and Ed, joining them for their regular Sunday morning ride. It was remarkably peaceful (and cold!).

So, after just over a week, this “move one mile every day” program is a success. A mile is easy to do, so it’s difficult for me to make a rational excuse to get out of it. But the best part is, once I’m outside, I often find that it’s a simple matter to extend my planned distance from one mile to two — or more!