Suburban Assault

I’m adding a new category to the Suburban Assault lifestyle: walking.

First, let me set the record straight, I am still bicycling and always will. In fact, I’ll probably ride even more this year than I ever have. Part of my new years resolution was to participate in more active transportation, and walking is very much a part of that.

Why the sudden addition to my lifestyle? Well, I’ve always enjoyed walking and hiking – even to the point where I would alway check those boxes in ‘favorite hobby or sport’ section of those random surveys that I’ve taken. I just never realized how little I was doing it.

Last December, the company I work for gave us Jawbone UP24 fitness bracelets as a holiday gift. The UP24 is, basically, a high-tech pedometers that connect with your iPhone to help you track and share your steps. According to the device, the average person should be walking 5,000 steps in a day, with the suggestion to do 10,000. I wore the device for the first few days to gauge my walking throughout a typical day – which was actually significantly less than the average.

This was a wakeup all for this daily desk jockey, and I needed to do more walking.

So far, this year, I’ve been walking well over the average of 5,000 steps a day – mostly hitting the 10,000+ step mark. Here are a few things that I’ve learned while walking more:

– Walking is HARD – especially on your feet, muscles and joints.
– Walking takes time. If you want to get more walking done in your day, you’ll need to make time for it.
– Although walking doesn’t require any special equipment, a good pair of shoes helps quite a bit.
– Bicycling is still a much better, more efficient form of human powered transportation.

I’ll report back on my progress and any other revelations that I have throughout the year. Until then, walk on.