The post that started it all – Day 1 of the Dog Walk Challenge.
A year ago, I decided to start walking a mile a day. If you want to read more about that, here is the post where I first discussed the Dog Walk Challenge (it’s different than the first post of the Dog Walk Challenge). Initially, the challenge was supposed to last a month – something slightly challenging, but easily doable.
That first month was not easy.
First, I was having to wake up earlier, which was not fun. Second, even though a mile doesn’t seem that long, it’s not that short, either. It requires some effort to make the time – for us, at least 20-25 minutes – every single day. While we eventually settled into a nice pattern of walking in the morning before work, it took some time to get a rhythm going.
Now? It’s such a habit that if I don’t get my morning walk in, I start to get antsy and pester people (read: Paul) about getting my walk in. It has been great for Choppy’s health – anyone who has been around her regularly thinks she looks much better than she did a year ago, even though at eight years old, she is probably now in her early senior years. Choppy has never been an active dog, even as a puppy, but the exercise is clearly good for her.
What come next? I’m not going to stop. There is part of me who wants to take a day off, because if I keep going, it becomes harder and harder to stop. But is that a bad thing? Finding the time to walk during my day is sometimes hard, but so far it has never been impossible. Inconvenient? Yes. Very inconvenient? Definitely a couple of times. But never impossible.
I got a lot of great suggestions as to what to do for Year 2 of the Dog Walk Challenge – thanks to everyone who had ideas for me. I know what I’m planning to do, so I’ll have the details for that soon for everyone. In the meantime, some stats for Year 1.
Total Miles: 452
Average Miles Per Day: 1.2
Day 365:
Date: April 29, 2017
Location: Home
Length: 1.3 Miles
Who: Sarah & Choppy
For those of you who missed it, we took a video of the Day 365 walk. Thanks to some technical difficulties (cold and running out of batteries), the camera shut off part way through, so there are actually two videos of the walk. Only a small portion of the walk is missing, so you get pretty much the entire 1.3 miles noted above. And, I figured out how to embed them here, so you don’t even have to go to Facebook to watch them! Enjoy, and on to Year Two!
Video One:
Video Two:
Wow, that is some distance walked!
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I’m guessing you outdo us with your walking!
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Not really and now we are temporarily nearer the Avenue and I don’t have the quarter mile from the boat to the showers and back, I won’t be doing as much! I’ll be aiming for around 2 to 3 miles a day. Maybe Hubby can rig up a lock gate in the garden. 🙂 🙂
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🙂 I aim for 5 miles a day, per my Fitbit. I get my mile in with Choppy, and manage to hit the goal maybe half the time – usually on days when Choppy gets two long walks.
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I can only monitor my walks with Maggie, so two miles a day with her will be good. We have stairs here, so that is a mini step aerobic exercise I suppose!
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I think so! I actually have a little step machine under my desk at work – I can either stand and work with it, or do it while sitting. The former is a much more intense exercise than the latter.
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Congratulations! I don’t have a Choppy (or a dog of any kind) for motivation, but maybe I should join you on the next 365 for myself?!?
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You should! That’s a great idea – we’ll take everyone we can get to join us!
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Bravo! Gold star for you⭐️ and one for Choppy ⭐️
Well done.
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Many thanks!
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Congratulations Sarah and Choppy, well done both of you.
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Thank you!
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Nice POST ❤ ❤ ❤
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Thank you!
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I am very glad you embed the first video, I missed it the first time around. What fun, I totally enjoyed it Sarah and Choppy! 🙂
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I had some issues with the video – next time, I make sure I have more battery juice!
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Impressive mileage when you add it up. Glad you are going to continue – good health can be addicting! 😉
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I’m excited for Year Two – now that I know what I’m doing, it should be easier to rack up even more miles!
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Kudos!
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You and Choppy should be proud.
“Although she has always being a lazy dog” 🙂 In this case, she has done something amazing with your help though.
You must feel strong and healthy yourself. You look it Sarah.
I am glad to be a part of the journey.
Bring on YEAR 2 🙂
Well done guys.
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Thank you – you’ve provided us with so much motivation over this year. Thank you for dropping by so often and all your great posts!
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Congratulations! That is a lot of mileage clocked up! 🙂
And thank you for posting the video/s here, so I could watch it all. 🙂
Also, as a dog person myself, I am very impressed with how well you control Choppy. 🙂
Well, it’s cool enough here now, so I can walk LM. 🙂
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I think the control is mostly us just being used to our walks after so many years – other people have real trouble walking her. She know what I expect, and I think you can see in the video that she has a few commands she knows that make things easier, like “wait” and “hold up.”
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I was particularly impressed with the “Leave it!” for the ducklings!
Very hard for any dog to do. 🙂
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She really isn’t very interested in birds! I think it has more to do with that than anything else. If those had been bunnies, my “leave it” would have fallen on deaf ears.
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Ah I see. 🙂 Like LM and cats or squirrels.
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Great inspiration! I’m going to try – 365 days with a minimum of 1 mile a day! Great way to get in shape and practice my blogging skills. walkswithcarwyn.wordpress.com
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Thank you! It’s been great – plus, it’s a nice chance to spend some time outside and hanging out with the dog.
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SO CUTE!!!! yeah yeah congrats
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Thank you!!
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What fun! Congrats, Sarah and Choppy!
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Thank you!
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Wow ! what an accomplishment for both of you. Congrats and here is to another awesome year.
I must say this is so inspirational. Well done 🙂
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Thank you! It’s been fun – I definitely don’t think that’s a word I would have thought I would use to describe it a year ago, but it really has been fun.
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Well done Sarah and Choppy. As it has obviously been fun for you two, it has also been fun for me to follow along on your journey – journeys are often better than the destination. Happy “New Year”…wishing you a happy start to your next journey!
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Thank you!! We’re continuing on with the Challenge – just with fewer posts on it.
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WTG! Congratulations! I don’t have time to watch the entire video, but what I did looks wonderful. Glad it was a nice day for the walk.
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Thank you! It’s a long video – and not the most interesting ever. I’ll probably do some shorter ones going forward.
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This is really inspiring! I’m so glad I found it 😀 If I can manage to get up before the sun I will have to try this!
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You really should – I was really bad at waking up early before I started. Now, I enjoy getting up and getting our walk in before work. It’s been a great influence on my life!
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