Walklogger

About a year ago, when it was just as grey and rainy and windy as it is now, we (that is to say, me and my colleagues) were all sitting around whining about how much we wished for it to be spring so we could go outside and be active, instead of being inside and being depressed, We all felt bloated from the holidays, but nobody really bothered to do something about that, because we were still in our large comfy winter clothes. But we did feel inactive, and lazy. And then I remembered that someone had once told me that you had to take 10,000 steps each day to be healthy. So we looked online, and although not everybody was in agreement (the argument is still going strong), most people did agree that walking is good for your health, fitness, blood pressure, and what not. So we all decided to try and walk 10,000 steps a day.
Now you have to remember that we all have jobs which involve sitting behind the computer a lot. Or sitting in meetings a lot. Or listening to presentations a lot. And I mean, really a lot. But still, we could give it a shot. So we all downloaded some sort of app to our smartphones to track our steps (those in the possession of an iPhone didn't need to do that, because Apple already automatically registers your movements and probably uses that to some sort of advantage). I chose Walklogger, simply because someone else was also using that and said it was a good app.
I don't know how many steps I took the first day, but I know it was nowhere near 10,000. Turns out, 10,000 steps takes about 1.5 hours of walking, depending on how fast you walk. We were really competitive, sharing walking scores and trying to beat each other to a higher step count, but the only one who ever really made the 10,000 was the one person who already took a walk each morning after breakfast and before work. So we decided to go on lunch walks, instead of eating in the canteen, and that really boosted our step count. Still no 10k, but we were doing good. But then some people had meetings, or it was raining, or there was a nice lunch presentation, and we didn't really take the walks anymore. After about two months, nobody was sharing their step counts anymore, and most people had removed the app from their phone.
But not me. Not that I'm aiming for 10,000 every day, that would be absurdly optimistic. My daily step count aim is 2,000, with at least 3 days of 5,000 steps (Walklogger gives you a bronze medal when you reach 5,000, and a silver at 8,000, and a gold medal at 10,000) every week. Which seems to be a pretty managaeble goal, if I think to take my smartphone with me everytime I walk. In the office, I do take a lot of small walks (150 steps to and from the coffee machine) that are often not counted because I don't have my phone with me. And there are some days when I easily manage 10,000, when I take a walk in the woods or walk to the city centre for some shopping. Then there are other days when I don't even reach 1,000, although usually that's because I've forgotten my phone somewhere. But it does mean that when I can choose between walking or biking, and there is no time constraint, I more often go on foot. Which is a nice change, even though it won't really make me that much healthier in the long run.
So Walklogger works for me, but you can probably use any walk logging app in the store, I haven't tried any of the others. I like the medal system, although it is a bit disappointing that you don't get any extra medals for walking say 15,000 or 20,000 steps (my record high was around 23,000, the day I walked the Great Wall of China). I like how it shows when you were walking, using little graphs that go up when you take more consequetive steps. And it shows you how many steps you took in this month and year. Somehow, Thursday is the day I walk the least, although I have no clue as to why that is.
And it's just fun, collecting the numbers, and batteling against your lazy self to reach those 2,000 steps. As for today, I have exactly 306 steps to go.