Another typical week, with the weekends struggling to break 5000 steps while the work week tries to bring up the average. Wednesday and Thursday were missing the daily coffee trip to North Plaza due to leaving early to watch Danny and Michael. Friday was a day off, with a total nearing 6000 thanks to a trip to the United Center to see the Bulls defeat the Timberwolves.
Weekly total: 38,720
Daily average: 5531.4
Hot Doug’s: The Book – Doug Sohn with Kate DeVivo
Back in 2001, Doug Sohn opened a hot dog stand that focused on one thing: encased meats. Over the following 14 years, until its closing in October of 2014, Hot Doug’s became a cultural landmark in the city of Chicago. In 2013, Sohn, along with co-writer Kate DeVivo, chronicled the history of his restaurant in book form.
The book tells the tale of the restaurant, both from Doug’s point of view and from testimonials from friends and customers. Starting with the germ of an idea at his previous job, the book follows the evolution of Hot Doug’s, from its original location, to the fire that forced it to shut down for 6 months, and the eventual move to its final location.
While light on actual content, the book is a love letter to a restaurant that captured the imagination of a city and more. My last visit was in the summer of 2012, waiting an hour in line when I should have been at work. Reading the book was a nice trip back in time.
Another successful week, with all 5 work days surpassing the 6000 step mark, with weekends still leaving a little to be desired. Monday was easily the best day of the week, due to 2 trips to North Plaza, one for a meeting and then the afternoon trip for coffee. The rest of the week was just the afternoon pick-me-up trip. Saturday’s activity was limited to a trip to the grocery store.
Weekly total: 44,753
Daily average: 6393.3
My first full week with the Fitbit got off to a bit of a slow start, but picked up considerably on Tuesday, thanks to a time-killing trip to K-Mart, the most depressing place on Earth, prior to getting my taxes done. The rest of the work week all finished above the 5500 plateau. Saturday, as the weather took a turn towards the frigid, was a bit of an off day.
Weekly total: 40,938
Daily average: 5848.3
With the GlobalFit program now officially shut down, it was time to start a new fitness program. I ordered the Fitbit Charge the previous Saturday and the good folks at Amazon delivered it on Wednesday. I managed to get in a whopping 19 steps after setting it up Wednesday night.
Thursday and Friday both came in over 6000 steps, thanks to trips to North Plaza for afternoon coffee. Saturday even managed to break 5000 steps, due to trips to 2 grocery stores.
My initial feelings are that the Fitbit is a tad bit more generous than the GlobalFit tracker. Breaking 5000 steps on Saturday was a little suspect, but I also deviated from my normal activities as well.
Weekly total: 18,510
Daily average: 6170
After many false starts (or stops, really), things finally came to a close last week for the GlobalFit Destination: You program at work. As previously reported, the check-in points in the cafeteria have been removed and, while the one in the bridge between North and South Plaza was working Monday, it didn’t update anything the rest of the week, so I’m assuming everything is done. I assume I would have topped 5500 steps on Monday were the rest of the day counted.
So, in 3 years and 29+ weeks, I finish with 6,511,500 steps. This estimates out to about 35,197 steps per week, or 5028 steps per day. Not great, but, all things considered, not bad.
As for the future, I’ve ordered a Fitbit Charge, which should be arriving by Monday. I should be back in the game soon enough. We’ll have to see how the two compare on an ordinary day, but hopefully they are close enough for comparisons to be valid.
A temporary return from the dead, as this program can’t decide if it wants to shut down or not. It looked like curtains for sure two weeks ago, when the website went down for a day before returning in seemingly a read only state. But then it started updating again, so we were able to eek another week out of things. Last Monday, the check-in points in the cafeteria were removed, but the one on the bridge between North and South plazas was still up. I’m pretty sure things will shut down for good soon, so plans are afoot for a new tracking mechanism to enter my life.
As for the week itself, things were looking pretty good during the work week, with 3 days over 7000 steps. Wednesday and Friday, when I was pretty sure things were over and done with, were disappointing. An special autograph session for White Sox season ticket holders at Chicago Sports Depot on Saturday got me out of the usual weekend doldrums, but Sunday returned right back to my poor normal.
Total steps: 37,860
Daily average: 5408.6
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.
1: 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.
Sunday brought about the half way point in year 4 of the great GlobalFit tracker experiment, so it is time to check in on my progress towards my goal of 2,002,000 steps, or an average of 5500 per day. One half of that total would be 1,001,000. So how did I do?
Well, over the past 10 weeks, I have done a good job of burning through whatever cushion I had built up over the previous 16 weeks. Going back to work after the holidays, I was behind target with a week to make up the gap. Part of me thought it wasn’t worth it, since the whole system will shut down next week, but, in the end, I figured it was worth seeing my goals through to the bitter end.
To help accomplish my goal, and put me back on track, I put in my best week since last April, when I traveled to San Diego. Not only did I make up the amount I needed to hit the halfway point, I surpassed it by nearly 11,000 steps. That makes me 2 for 2 in my quarterly check-ins, which is as far as this “year” will go. Hopefully, I will be up and running again soon in a new program, and we can start this whole thing over again.
What a miserable showing for Christmas week, with my worst totals in a year. Not one day above 5000 steps and only 2 above 4000. Tuesday included a trip to the office, which you would think would have gotten me a little more than the barely 3000 steps I accomplished. Christmas Eve through Boxing Day were complete wastes. The weekend bounced back a little, with above average days, at least recently.
Total steps: 20,496
Daily average: 2928