In this case, it is all about the journey

Column originally published Dec. 28, 2005

CLINTON — For those of you who have been paying rapt attention to my “Weekly Walking” feature that charts my progress toward a goal of 2.5 million steps this year, the following will come as no surprise:

I am a failure.

As I write this early Tuesday, I realize I’ll need some 285,712 steps by Saturday night to hit my goal. That’s more than 138 miles. For someone who’s been averaging just less than three miles a day all year and just a bit more than 2 miles a day all December, impossible isn’t a strong enough word.

Broken down even more, I’d need to average 57,142.4 steps per day from now until New Year’s Eve. Considering my previous one-day best is 16,545 (way back on Aug. 8), we’re pretty much looking at a lost cause.

On the upside, if I slip on some snow today and end up in traction, I’ll still be ahead of last year’s total, which was just a hair over 2.2 million (and I had an extra day last year, too). But, I’m only averaging about 130 steps more per day than I did in 2004, which isn’t all that great.

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