January in review

That’s my first month of the walk 1000 miles challenge in the bag. How did I do?

If I’m honest – I’m quite pleased with myself, I walked further than I expected or even planned – with a total of over 150 miles under my belt.

152

Miles
}

52

Hours

18,276

Calories Burnt

46

Walks
  • Longest walk – 10.78 miles
  • Shortest walk – 2.29 miles

%

Percentage of walk completed

Off to a great start

I’d always intended to get as many miles in as I could as early as possible – just to create a ‘buffer’ should I get ill or suffer an injury later in the year.

As important as the mileage is (after all it’s the whole point of the challenge!) – my biggest achievement has been to go out for a ‘boots on’ walk. Every. Single. Day.

In fact some days I went out twice (albeit for slightly shorter walks)

I hope I can maintain this level of commitment throughout the challenge – but we’ll have to see what my body says about that.

The unexpected challenges

January ended up being a pretty tough month to start a walking challenge in and without doubt there have been a couple of curve balls.

Lockdown being the biggest
When lockdown was announced, it was a blow. Lots of the walks I’d had planned now couldn’t happen. Everyone has to stay local for exercise.

For me that limits me to a roughly four-square mile area. I’ve manged to mix up the routes a bit, do them in reverse, combine routes and even a few time challenges (It’s not a race!!) – but ultimately the constraints of where I can go has been severly limiting.

Then there’s the weather…

Many of the routes I started the month on, and new ones I’ve found, but are yet to walk, are now impassable due to flooding. This feels like the wettest January on record, and even when it wasn’t raining, it was either snowing or below freezing temperatures.

I dread to think how long it’s going to take for everything to dry out. As I write this, just back from my last walk of the month – it’s snowing again.

Another aspect which in hindsight I should have anticipated, was walking in the dark.

This isn’t a challenge per-se, but with home schooling (due to lockdown) and running a business from home – walking in daylight hours during the week quickly proved to be the exception rather than the rule.

One thing I definitely want to do less as warmer weather and lighter evenings approach is pounding pavements in the dark.

50 mile marker
100 mile marker
150 mile marker

Overview

Weather and Lockdown aside, I’m really pleased with my own performance in January.

Zero to 150 miles in 31 days, feels like an achievement. I’ve beaten my personal target with no injuries and I’m still raring to go – in what normally feels like a depressing month.

While I’ve started this challenge on my own, (occasionally accompanied by my family) – it would be remiss not to mention social media (which I normally hate) – which has been a tremendous support. From the Official Walk 1000 miles Facebook page , to connecting with people on Instagram and just recently Twitter too.

I’d love to hear how others are getting on, let me know in the comments or on social how your challenge is going.

Let’s see what February brings! Let’s go.