Walk the walk...

So, I have mentioned in prior posts that I recently 1.) started a new job, and 2.) started training for a half-marathon.  A week after I started here, corporate decided to have what they titled a “pedometer challenge”.  Being the new girl, I shyly asked the secretary if I could join our team and participate in the challenge, only to be told there wasn't a team.   This is how one week after starting my new job I unknowingly became our entire department’s team captain. 

The challenge lasts 2 months and basically boils down to taking as many steps as you can each day to boost your team's weekly average steps.  It has been very interesting to see how many (or how few) steps I take in an average day.  Yes, I’m an accountant, so looking at these stats, and basically boiling down my physical actions into averages and percentages is interesting to me.  My first few weeks on the job were slow for me, so I had an excuse to spend extra time walking around the building, heck, even around the parking lot when I was really bored.

The suggested goal for us each day is to hit 10,000 steps.  I was surprised to figure out how difficult this actually is.  Even if I go out of my way at work (print to the farthest printer, park in the back of the lot, take the stairs instead of the elevator), I am lucky to hit 5,000 steps by the time 5pm rolls around.  And sadly, even though I have a desk job, I’ve found I get far more steps during the workday then I do during evenings at home.  My first weekend I think I logged about 5000 steps TOTAL.  Sad.

I wanted to sign up for this mainly because I am training for that half-marathon and I thought I’d be totally rocking the step count, but it appears I am wrong.  Running two or three times a week has not really boosted my average, and I’m sad to think about what my numbers would look like if I were NOT training. 

Last week I hit my peak with 71,840 steps, finally breaking the 10,000 per day average.  Will I do better this week?  We’ll see.  Have you ever participated in a pedometer challenge before?  Does anyone have any tips for me?