Last month, HR sent out an email regarding Steptember. It's a charity event that encourages people to take 10,000 steps a day for 28 days in September for fundraising to support people living with cerebral palsy across Australia. That's the equivalent of virtually climbing the highest peak on every continent!
Aside from doing charity, I find it really interesting as I have been walking much more than I used to ever since I started working in the city, but how many steps did I really take each day? Seriously, being a data analyst, I am really curious of the "data" I am going to collect and some interesting fact that I will discover with the data that I collected.
I talked to a few colleagues (it actually took some courage out of me to do this) to form a team of 4 and registered ourselves. In less than 2 weeks, I received the kit in my mailbox and it came with a pedometer - small enough to keep in my pocket/bag to track every step that I take.
I started trying out the pedometer a week before.
So, how many steps do I take? My
1) In a morning, from the moment I stepped out of my bed to prepare breakfast / wake Eunice up / prepare myself / going in and out Eunice's room etc, I actually took >500 steps.
2) From the moment I stepped out of my home to bus station then to train station and to my office at 9th floor (using lift), I took almost 2300 steps.
3) From the moment I stepped out of my bed in the morning up till 8pm, I actually took 5360 steps (worked through lunch hour).
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| Total steps from 6.45am to 8.15pm on a normal working day |
4) I took 873 steps just in my own home from 8.15pm to 11.05pm - just walking around the house settling the children and etc. Hmm.. quite amazing. So on my typical day, I actually took 6233 steps. That's double of what the video in Steptember shows that average office worker only takes about 3000 steps a day. Not too bad!
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| Total steps I took in a day |
5) I took 1318 steps from home to Eunice's school.
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| Total steps from home to Eunice's school |
6) I showed Eunice my pedometer while walking home from school last week. I told her it'll count how many steps she takes. She was very excited and was holding it jumping around to see the number increases. So it might just add another 20 steps extra. :P.. Otherwise, for the same distance, a 5yo took 1623 steps from school to home! 300 steps more than me! :D
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| The excited girl |
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| Eunice's total steps from school to home |
7) Steptember started yesterday and I stopped a train station earlier than my usual one to increase my steps, but I got lost in the city! (Yes! Terrible sense of direction! How embarrassing...) And I ended up wandering around in the city for 30 minutes before I finally found my way! But again, I didn't go anywhere during lunch and worked through my lunch time, and I went for small group at night which I only sat in the couch from 7.45pm to 11pm. So in the end, I only had 9029 steps! Missed by a bit! But not a bad start... (Pardon me for the dark pic as I took it at night when I was falling asleep :P)
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| 9029 steps in the first day of steptember |
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| Total steps in day 2 and still increasing! Yay! |
So far I find it pretty interesting, though I had some cramp feet at night (LOL). I am never a sporty person but for the cause of charity, and since this is also for my own health and fitness, I hope I will be able to last through 28 days with this determination!
And after Steptember is over, I am going to put this on Natalie and see how many steps my hyper girl actually takes everyday! *GRIN*
PS: Besides just walking, we also can convert the activities (like gardening, yoga, sports, cycling, swimming, etc) into steps. I'll see if my weekend gardening help much in the total steps, and it shall then fulfill more of my curiosity. :P
