Tag / BTN Big 10K

by jim

2 Sprint 2 Stride

For the fourth year in a row, I’ve registered for the Sprint & Stride 5K race held on the campus of the old workplace next month.  After not finishing last year due to the shenanigans of my walking partners, I’ll be trying to break my time from 2 years ago of 57:32 at a minimum, if not my “personal record” of 54:10, from the first BTN 5K I did back in 2012.  Standing in my way will likely be the same issues as years past, walking with friends and narrow terrain that makes it hard to pass slower walkers.  Hopefully I can figure out how to get my time to register this year, something I’ve failed to do in the past.

Either way, it should be a fun event and one that benefits a good cause.  Not to mention getting an afternoon away from my desk and, potentially, spending some time with Hayley and Val.

by admin

The Still Growing 10,000 Step Club

Last year, as I was finishing my first year with a Fitbit, I took my last look at the top 20 step days I’ve had since I first started tracking my steps way back in July of 2011.  At the time, I had only surpassed the 10,000 step plateau 81 times.  In the past year, I have managed to add an additional 35 occurrences, raising the total to 116.  With my second year using the Fitbit coming to an end last week, I thought it would be appropriate to take a new look at my now top 25 step days over the past 5 1/2 years, featuring 12 new entries.

btn10K-41: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps

My best single day total continues to be from my 2013 trip to Disney World.  The day’s excursion to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom ended up with a total of approximately 12.5 miles.  And yes, it still bothers me that I didn’t get those 12 additional steps to reach 25,000.

2: 3/22/2016 – 22,493 steps

My first new entry shares much in common with my #1 day, taking place in Disney World last March.  The day’s excursion started at Hollywood Studios before heading over to Epcot Center with Jeff and Val.

3: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps

My now third highest total came nearly 2 months after my highest, thanks to the BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.  These 3 days are the sum total of my days over 20,000 steps.

4: 6/2/2016 – 18,725 steps

The second new entry comes from last June’s trip to Universal Studios.  Our first full day at the park, we split the day between Universal and Islands of Adventure, taking in all of the different Harry Potter options.

5: 6/4/2016 – 18,617 steps

The third new entry rounds up the top 5 with another entry from last June’s trip to Universal Studios.  The day included another trip to Islands of Adventure, and would have ended up even higher but for an afternoon trip to the hotel pool.

6: 9/6/2015 – 18,259 steps

Down three slots from last year, my now-sixth highest total comes courtesy of my trip to Toronto in September 2015.  This Sunday consisted of traversing around Toronto, with trips to Royal Ontario Museum and, at night, the Molson Canadian Ampitheatre for the Oddball Comedy Fest.

7: 9/11/2015 – 17,889 steps

My seventh best total also occurred during my trip to Toronto.  My last day in the city was spent at the Eaton Centre mall, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a few other stops.

8: 6/8/2013 – 17,852 steps

My now-eighth highest output brings us back to Disney World in 2013, this time for a day split between Animal Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.

9: 6/1/2016 – 17,243 steps

My fourth new entry again comes courtesy of last summer’s trip to Universal.  This first day of the trip started in Chicago at O’Hare and took us to the Hard Rock Hotel for check-in and a round of mini-golf at City Walk before taking a quick trip in the afternoon to Islands of Adventure to reacquaint ourselves with the original Harry Potter attractions.

10: 6/5/2016 – 16,317 steps

We round out the top 10 with my fifth new entry, which again took place last summer at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, where we tried to take in all of the non-Harry Potter attractions.

11: 9/5/2015 – 16,083 steps

We head back to Toronto for my eleventh highest day, my first full day in the city.  There was exploring along the riverfront and, of course, a trip to Rogers Centre for a Blue Jays game.

12: 9/23/2014 – 15,728 steps

This total was accomplished thanks to the 2014 Sprint & Stride 5K race that was held at work.

13: 4/11/2016 – 15,597 steps

My sixth new entry took place last April, where an exciting day of work was followed by a trip to Wrigley Field for Opening Day festivities.

14: 9/9/2012 – 14,957 steps

My now-fourteenth highest total comes thanks to a Sunday in Belfast spent walking from our hotel, down to the Titanic museum, and then back again.

15: 6/7/2013 – 14,940 steps

Another day of 2013’s vacation to Disney World, this day started with a morning trip to the hotel pool, followed by an abbreviated day at the Magic Kingdom.

Continue reading →

by admin

The Ever Growing 10,000 Step Club

Last winter, as the GlobalFit program was wrapping up, I took my last look at the top 20 step days I’ve had since I first started tracking my steps way back in July of 2011.  At the time, I had only surpassed the 10,000 step plateau 45 times.  In the year plus since then, I have managed to nearly double that number, raising the total to 81.  With my first year using the Fitbit coming to an end last week, I thought it would be appropriate to take a new look at my updated top 20 step days over the past 4 1/2 years, featuring 8 new entries.

btn10K-41: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps

My best single day total came during my 2013 trip to Disney World.  The day’s excursion to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom ended up with a total of approximately 12.5 miles.  And yes, it still bothers me that I didn’t get those 12 additional steps to reach 25,000.

2: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps

My second highest total came nearly 2 months after my highest, thanks to the BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.  These 2 days are the sum total of my days over 20,000 steps.

3: 9/6/2015 – 18,259 steps

The first new addition to the list comes courtesy of my trip to Toronto last September.  This Sunday consisted of traversing around Toronto, with trips to Royal Ontario Museum and, at night, the Molson Canadian Ampitheatre for the Oddball Comedy Fest.

4: 9/11/2015 – 17,889 steps

Another new addition thanks to my trip to Toronto.  My last day in the city was spent at the Eaton Centre mall, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a few other stops.

5: 6/8/2013 – 17,852 steps

My now-fifth highest output brings us back to Disney World, this time for a day split between Animal Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.

6: 9/5/2015 – 16,083 steps

We head back to Toronto for my sixth highest day, my first full day in the city.  There was exploring along the riverfront and, of course, a trip to Rogers Centre for a Blue Jays game.

7: 9/23/2014 – 15,728 steps

This total was accomplished thanks to the 2014 Sprint & Stride 5K race that was held at work.

8: 9/9/2012 – 14,957 steps

My eighth highest total comes thanks to a Sunday in Belfast spent walking from our hotel, down to the Titanic museum, and then back again.

9: 6/7/2013 – 14,940 steps

Another day of 2013’s vacation to Disney World, this day started with a morning trip to the hotel pool, followed by an abbreviated day at the Magic Kingdom.

Continue reading →

by admin

Sprinting And Striding Again

2015sprintstrideFor the second year in a row, I’ve registered for the Sprint & Stride 5K race held on the campus of the old workplace next month.  I’ll be trying to break my time from last year of 55:43 at a minimum, if not my “personal record” of 54:10, from the first BTN 5K I did back in 2012.  Standing in my way will likely be the same issues as last year, walking with friends and narrow terrain that makes it hard to pass slower walkers.

Either way, it should be a fun event and one that benefits a good cause.  Not to mention getting an afternoon away from my desk.

by jim

The 10,000 Step Club Revisited

Last spring, I took an initial look at the top 20 step days I’ve had since starting the GlobalFit program way back in July of 2011.  At the time, I had only surpassed the 10,000 step plateau 31 times.  In the 8 months since then, I have managed to raise that number to 45.  With the GlobalFit program officially wrapping up earlier this week, I thought it would be appropriate to take a new, and final, look at my updated top 20 step days over the past 3 1/2 years.

btn10K-41: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps

My best single day total came during my 2013 trip to Disney World.  The day’s excursion to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom ended up with a total of approximately 12.5 miles.  And yes, it still bothers me that I didn’t get those 12 additional steps to reach 25,000.

2: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps

My second highest total came nearly 2 months after my highest, thanks to the BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.  These 2 days are the sum total of my days over 20,000 steps.

3: 6/8/2013 – 17,852 steps

My third highest output brings us back to Disney World, this time for a day split between Animal Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.

4: 9/23/2014 – 15,728 steps

A new addition since my original list, this total was accomplished thanks to the Sprint & Stride 5K race that was held at work last fall.

5: 9/9/2012 – 14,957 steps

We round out the top 5 with my highest total outside of the United States.  A Sunday in Belfast spent walking from our hotel, down to the Titanic museum, and then back again.

6: 6/7/2013 – 14,940 steps

Another day of 2013’s vacation to Disney World, this day started with a morning trip to the hotel pool, followed by an abbreviated day at the Magic Kingdom.

Continue reading →

by jim

Sprinted And Strode

sprintstrideLast Tuesday, Allstate held their annual Sprint and Stride event, a 5K race around campus to benefit breast cancer research.  Having missed the BTN race back in July due to the trip to Minnesota, I decided to sign up, along with a few co-workers.

klongThe race started over near Willow, which meant that in addition to the 5K, we had to add the trek over and back.  There were two celebrities in attendance to kick off the festivites, Zoraida Sambolin, breast cancer survivor and local news personality, and Kyle Long, noted Chicago Bear.  Once the race got going, I quickly found that things would be different than my past 5K experiences.

For one thing, the terrain was much different.  The BTN 5K is all on paved motorways or sidewalks.  This one crossed multiple different terrains, going from paved sidewalks and streets to grass to gravel walking paths.  The other big difference, which affected everyone’s time, was that the paths were much narrower, making it hard to pass people going slow in front of you.

Considering all of that, I assume I finished in a reasonable time.  Assume because it seems there was a problem with the chip in my bib, so the results site says that my time is unavailable.  If I take the finishing time of the friend who was with me the whole time, I came in around 55:43, which was about a minute more than my time in last year’s BTN 5K.  I’ll take it, though.  I guess I’ll be back on board for next year’s event.

by jim

Sprinting And Striding

sprintstrideUnlike the past 2 years, I was unable to participate in this year’s Big Ten Network Big 10K 5K race, mostly due to the fact that I was in Minnesota watching exciting baseball.  To make up for it, I have signed up for the Sprint and Stride, held on the campus of the old workplace.

Last year, I failed in my goal of beating my time of 54:10 from the year before, but that was mostly due to the social aspects of the group I was with.  I will renew that goal for this race, coming up in about a month.

by admin

Global Fit Year 3 Revisited

GFYear3So, of course the servers that control step updates came back online today, after this morning’s post went live.  So, I now have the official totals, that make things look a little better. I ended up finishing the year with 5,423,276 steps, which was nearly 327,000 below my goal.  My updated average step total per week was 35,098, which comes out to about 5014 per day. The median weekly total changed to 34,642.  I ended up passing the 10,000 step mark 12 times over the year, with my best day coming nearly a year ago, thanks to the BTN 5K.

My goal for this upcoming year remain the same, which would put me at 7,425,276 steps.  Hopefully, doing so will help me get a handle on this weight issue.

by admin

10,000 Step Club

Way back in July of 2011, when I started this whole GlobalFit exercise (pun somewhat intended), I had the silly thought that since 10,000 steps was what is generally considered active, that I would use that as a guideline of something to ascribe to.  Now, nearly 3 years later, I find that I’ve actually crossed that plateau only 31 times.  As I spend today flying home from California, with the expectation that I will be adding at least one or two days to this list, I thought it would be sobering, and perhaps inspiring, to look back at the top 20 of those 31 days.

btn10K-41: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps

My best single day total came during last summer’s trip to Disney World.  The day’s excursion to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom ended up with a total of approximately 12.5 miles.  And yes, it does bother me that I didn’t get those 12 additional steps to reach 25,000.

2: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps

My second highest total came nearly 2 months after my highest, thanks to the BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.  These 2 days are the sum total of my days over 20,000 steps.

3: 6/8/2013 – 17,852 steps

My third highest output brings us back to Disney World, this time for a day split between Animal Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.  Sadly, this also ends our collection of days greater than 15,000.

4: 9/9/2012 – 14,957 steps

The fourth best day I’ve had in the last 3 years is my highest total outside of the United States.  A Sunday in Belfast spent walking down to the Titanic museum

5: 6/7/2013 – 14,940 steps

We round out the top 5 with another day of last June’s vacation to Disney World.  This day started with a morning trip to the hotel pool, followed by an abbreviated day at the Magic Kingdom.

Continue reading →

by jim

GlobalFit III: 4 Month Checkpoint

Week16Checkpoint16 weeks ago, we started year three of this little experiment and laid out a goal of approximately 2.25 million steps over the next year.  16 weeks, or approximately 4 months, seems like a good time to look at the progress I’ve made so far.

Right off the bat, we can see that the average steps per day is up by 44 steps.  One goal is to get this back up over the 5000 step mark, and that seems to be on target.  To achieve 2.25 million steps by the end of the year, my calculations say that I should have accomplished 692,308 steps by this point.  As of the end of last week, I am at 571,204.  That pace puts me at under 1.9 million for the year, which is quite a bit off of my mark.  To make up the difference, I would need to add approximately 11,000 additional steps per week.

My best week so far has been Week 3, which had the nice boost of having the BTN 5K walk.  My worst week was Week 6, where I barely broke 29,000 steps for the week.