It’s Never Too Early for New Year’s Resolutions: Want to Step Out With MY Gang?

Hi there, Mrs. 1500 today.

If you’ve been keeping up with my antics, you’ll remember that this year has seen me run a 5K in January, a half marathon in May, and just last week Mr. 1500 and I rode RAGBRAI with Mr. Waffles on Wednesday (and Mrs. WoW providing support), Big Ox, Little Bird, and several people we met at Chautauqua last fall.

But careful observers will notice that this exercise is sporadic. January, May, July. And don’t even try to stick up for me and say that I trained for these things. I started running in October, but as I loathe running, my efforts very quickly waned.

And as for RAGBRAI, I logged about 80 miles in before the ride, which is paltry.

Before we get too much farther into this pity party, there is a bright side. Near the end of last year, Miss Mazuma wrote an article proposing a step challenge for 2019.

The proposal was for people who struggle to get 10,000 steps per day.

Join the group, and we’ll keep each other on track, inspired, and if we fall short, we pay a penalty. At the end of the year, the person with the most steps gets the money. (I think. I can’t actually remember, maybe someone else splits it with them? The money was never the reason I signed up.)

This challenge was NOT for those who are routinely getting 10,000+ steps, and this was expressly stated.

Well, that is certainly me. On days in the office, I can come home at 6:00 pm with less than 2,000 steps.

So I joined up, and we started on January 1. I believe there were 15 of us in the beginning.

This has very frequently been the only source of exercise I am getting during the week, as life happens and if you don’t plan for exercise, it’s super easy to let that be the thing you run out of time for.

We have allowed a little leeway in our challenge – it’s 70,000 per week, so those days that fall short can be made up during the week.

There is a group chat for us to talk about our struggles and encourage each other, which has been HUGELY helpful. (Shout out to my Accountabilibuddies!)

And now we’re planting a 2020 seed. Near the end of the year is chaos, so I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss the announcement.

Do you need a challenge? Do you struggle to get 10,000 steps per day? (I’ve got a great challenge for you!)

Do you routinely get close to 10,000 steps per day, and want a little bit more of a challenge? (We’re creating several groups.)

Are you a high stepper, and want a super-challenge? (We’ve got a super-secret surprise group for people who just seem to walk all day long.)

If you’re interested in ANY of these groups send me a note at mrs1500@1500days.com to get your name on the “Hit me up in December” list, and details when they are finalized. Put “Here come the hot steppers” in the subject line.

This challenge is super motivating, and the four weeks I’ve not met my goals have been really deflating. I’m so excited to continue this challenge next year. Thanks Miss Mazuma!