One of the problems I've always had with maintaining a regular exercise routine is that exercise purely for the purpose of exercise (and its attendent benefits, like weight loss, general conditioning, and the like) leaves it difficult for me to see the goal. The absence of immediate feedback headed toward a meaningful goal, where you can see the progress every single time would be incredibly helpful.
I've thought about different kinds of targeted goals that might allow for that feedback. My goal to hike every one of the hikes in a particular guide book is one. That has my weekends well-occupied, but so far, that's the only exercise I get with any regularity. I've thought about goals like bench-pressing ten or a hundred tons, a hundred pounds at a time, or doing ten thousand sit-ups, but those things still bore me and I don't have any real mental investment in achieving the goal.
However, this weekend I read in Backpacker magazine about Caleb Smith, who completed the New York City Walk. You can read details at his website, but the short version is that he walked down every single street in all of Manhattan, over 700 miles and over roughly 2.5 years. This struck me as exactly the sort of goal I need, except I live in the Seattle area instead of New York City. Hiking various trails usually has to wait for the weekend, but as Smith points out, after work there are often hours of daylight. Since it's the city, rather than woods or mountains, even after dark you can still make progress. You can also make progress even if you only have an hour available.
As far as I can tell, no one is doing a Seattle city walk, although there are a few other comprehensive walks going on in various parts of the country right now. So, starting as early as tomorrow, I will begin one. I've sent email to Barbara Gray of the Seattle Department of Transportation to see if the maps I found online are the right ones to work from and just how many miles of streets Seattle has. Hopefully she'll get back to me promptly, but I'm not going to wait to be absolutely sure. I can keep track of what I've done until I have the right map.
I'm also going to take a lot of photos, since I'll then have a comprehensive look at the entire city. I'm excited to start, but it's exercise. How cool is that?
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5 comments:
Sounds like a cool idea! I personally like exercise for the benefits it provides in health. It generally makes me feel good. My wife and I take our son for walks/jogs around the neighborhood 4-5 days a week. It's a great way to spend time together and we all feel better afterwards, too! We have a pedometer to help us keep up with our progress. We're up to 4.5 miles right now and planning to go for 5 today. Keep it up, man!
I am a regular walker also and really like having goals. Otherwise it is hard to make time for something that has no measureable objective.
Since I don't work in a city I am wondering how I can devise something similar for myself.
I am also wondering about the credibility of those pedometers. My experience with them in the past led me to conclude that the results were pretty inaccurate.
I just read a newspaper article about the recommendation to walk 10,000 steps a day. That is something I think I could try but don't know about the pedometers that measure that stuff. Any recommendations?
I'm probably going to buy a pedometer very shortly so I can start measuring. I'll post about what I select.
Not living in a city doesn't have to be a problem, as you live in a county, at least if you are in the United States. At http://catroncountywalk.blogspot.com/ is a blog of a woman who is walking all of her county in New Mexico.
sounds like a great idea except --- its too freaking hot outside!!!
P.S. thanks for the great advice on my blog. Seriously, you set it straight. You can't control the actions of others, only your own. The important part is communication.
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