Walking 10,000 Steps Everyday for a Year

I can’t believe I forgot to write this post. Way back in March of 2016 I wrote about walking 10,000 steps everyday for six-months and how I was really going for a year. I wrote about the hardships, getting my steps in while I was sick and how I had to make a lot of changes to ensure I got 10,000 steps everyday.
My goal was to walk for 365 days a year. Did I do it?

Hell yeah I did! I didn’t just do it, I killed it. This was my steps on the last day of my challenge:

After the six-month mark things got a lot easier. Why? Because of badminton. My coach didn’t have his gym yet but I started training which meant I played badminton three times a week. On those days I didn’t need to worry about my steps because playing badminton would ensure I got them. Then, on my other days I tended to be busier (doing all the things I couldn’t do on the badminton days) that they steps came naturally.
In fact, I began almost forgetting about it. One night, with less than 30 days to go, I got into bed, turned off the light and snuggled down. Then I jolted up realizing I hadn’t felt my bracelet “buzz” that day telling me I was successful. I checked my app and saw I was less than 200 steps short with only TWO MINUTES before midnight.

I jumped up and ran around my house as fast as I could to get to 10,000 in under 2 minutes. Of course I got it and went back to bed but I was too wired to fall asleep.

The most annoying part of it was the last month. I was taking a month-long intensive Chinese class in Yangshuo. Class all morning long, break and nap at lunch and then study all afternoon, meeting with a language partner for an hour of chatting then dinner and finish up some homework before going to bed early.

Not a lot of walking time in there. So after dinner I would have to head out every night for a walk. Now, luckily Yangshuo was a beautiful place and there was a gorgeous walking path right by the school, but temps were a hot and steamy 35+ degrees (95+F) and I would need to walk for as long as it took me. I began to hate those walks just because I had other things to do, people I wanted to talk with, homework I had to finish, and instead I had to walk and get all hot and sweaty.

Although isn’t that the time you need to get up and take a walk? Wasn’t that exactly the purpose of this challenge? To force me to get off my butt everyday even when I didn’t want to? But at the time I found it very frustrating and it was my least favorite part of the year challenge. But as it was the last part of the challenge there was no way I was gonna quit and waste 11-months of hard work.

So, after 365 days I figured why stop? I wouldn’t force myself to walk 10,000 steps if I didn’t want to, but at that point I was playing badminton almost everyday and 10,000 steps was a no brainer.

So I kept going. 365 days turned to 375…385….395. And with the 400 day mark so close I could taste it we had the biggest Typhoon in Xiamen we’ve had in decades. The hurricane hit at night so the day before I actually ended up getting 10,000 steps because of all the running around getting ready for it to hit.

At night my friends and I huddled together listening to the rattling windows and getting ready to run downstairs if we felt the building getting weaker. We stayed up together through the night, only getting a snatch of sleep as the dawn came and the storm blew past us.

In the morning we walked around, assessing the damage and looking for something to eat. The roads were impassable with fallen trees and debris and everyone was without power.

It was an exhausting, overwhelming day. At night I checked and I had only walked 6,000 steps. I would need to go out and struggle over all those trees in the evening dark to get my steps in. With so little sleep after such an uncomfortable day I said forget it.
So on day 398 I quit.

But I didn’t quit being active. I didn’t stop keeping track of my steps and thanks to my very active lifestyle I’ve been averaging almost 15,000 steps a day for months.

I’ve recently even leveled up in my bracelet buying the “Mi band 2” which also has a heart rate monitor. I’m not slowing down at all when it comes to walking and taking a lot of steps everyday.

I’m glad I did this challenge. It was tough, and it was tiring (I just really wanted a day to stay home in my pajamas) but it helped to change my mindset and in that time, my life totally changed. Not sure if it is because they xiaomi or not, but it certainly didn’t hurt!