These boots APPARENTLY weren’t made for walking…

I got my dad a pedometer for Christmas.  My brother-in-law, too.  It’s said that healthy people should take a minimum of  10,000 steps per day.   And supposedly, it only takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to log the 10,000 steps. I thought my dad and brother-in-law would enjoy seeing how many steps they take and the pedometers would provide a fun challenge if they found they weren’t hitting the mark.

Turns out, though, that I accidentally ordered three pedometers instead of two, so I decided to keep one for myself.  I finally got around to using it a couple days ago and I was eager to see if I was up to snuff.

I was pretty sure I’d have no trouble logging the steps.  I’m an active mama with two young boys, after all.  I’m on my feet a lot.  Surely I’m taking at least 8,000 steps a day, if not the full 10.  My first day with the pedometer was a fairly typical day.  I took the boys to and from preschool.  I cooked and cleaned and did various chores around the house.  I wrote in the afternoon and did some yoga during “nap” time.  I played with the boys, made dinner and did some laundry.

At the end of the day, I triumphantly pulled off the pedometer and my first thought was,

What??!!  This dumb pedometer doesn’t work!  Stupid thing.

I had logged a grand total of 2,037 steps.  I immediately announced that it is obviously defective, shaking my head and remarking that I would have to call my dad and brother-in-law in the morning to apologize for giving them both such worthless gifts.  But Jason oh-so-gently mentioned that perhaps it wasn’t defective; that perhaps I just wasn’t as active as I thought I was.  To which I responded, pshshhhhh.  Puh-lease.  Did I mention that our house has stairs?  Lots of them.

But, the long in the short of it is, of course, that the pedometer isn’t defunct and bound for the dumpster but that I am not nearly as active on a day-to-day basis that I had led myself to believe.  By the third day, I refused to wear the depressing thing and left it on my dresser.

This morning, though, when Jason suggested that we go for a hike with the boys, I eagerly grabbed my pedometer before we headed out the door.  This was the day for the pedometer!  And sure enough, after a couple hours of VERY leisurely strolling on the trails at Tiger Mountain, I had logged over 7,500 steps.  Now at 4:30pm, I’m up to 8,776. Hallelujah!

So this morning served two purposes.  I got out of the city and into the wild, as I’ve been yearning to do this week.  And I got some new motivation to get moving.  Yoga is all fine and good but I should probably get outside a little more, too.   My wonky back won’t allow for running these days but I can definitely still walk and walking has long been one of those “I like doing this but I rarely make time for it” kinds of things.   I know I can log those 10,000 steps.  I still suspect that my pedometer might be broken, though.  I mean, really.