Why 6800 Miles?

I mentioned in a previous post that one way I plan on surviving this separation is by walking 6800 miles.  People keep asking me why I chose that number.  It is the approximate distance between us here in Missouri and my husband in Korea.  I know 6800 miles is a HUGE number but I actually walked more when he was in Iraq in 2005/2006.  I even completed the 7,348th mile two days before the one year mark!  So how do you walk 6800 miles?

1.  You wear a pedometer to track your steps.  The average person walks about 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day.  2,000 steps equals a mile.  To accomplish my goal of 6800 miles in a year, I have to average 18.6 miles a day.  That's a lot of steps!  But it is doable.

3.  Make a conscious effort to increase your steps.  I do this by parking further away from every building I go to.  I also increase my trips while doing every day household chores.  Instead of taking a full basket of laundry to a room, I take individual loads.  This may be a little more time consuming for some people but our house really isn't that big and it doesn't add that much time to chores.

4.  Walk to Iraq was actually a program that many spouses did when their Soldiers were deployed and they came out with other guidelines as well that helped me achieve my goals.  Some of those ideas were as follows.

•      Earn a mile for every 30 minutes of sustained physical activity like running, cycling, swimming, aerobics, organized sports, ect.
•      Earn a mile for every 25 lbs of care packages you mailed to your Service Member
•      Earn a mile for every 2 hours of service you provide for someone else

5.  Obviously I am going to walk for exercise.  Right now my middle son has football practice, twice a day.  I am switching with a friend for transportation of my son and her son.  I take the boys in the morning and she takes them in the evening.  I take them at 6 a.m. and they don't finish until  8:30-9.  I use that time to walk up the road by the school.  I started off slow on Monday and as of today, I am up to 5  miles in about an hour and a half.  (And I don't feel like dying!).  My goal when the kids go back to school is to continue working out and adding other exercise besides walking to the mix for overall health.

6.  Eat healthy and drink plenty of water!  I think that's self-explanatory.

So overall, my goal in doing this 6800 miles is to give myself the opportunity to focus on me.