These days I often get asked, “How are you?” My answer is invariably, “Fine, thank you.” A better explanation of “fine, thank you” may come from the statistics below.

You see, for the last 5 years I have been keeping track of my distance walked each day. The rules are that only steps walked outside or at the pool count. In other words, steps and distances walked at home are not included. Our outside door handle has to turn before the steps count. And when it turns again, coming home, the counting stops.  

The results have been good, bad and occasionally ugly. The table below shows the data gathered over the past 5 years.

Year	Av. Steps Per Day	Av Kms Per Day	Total Annual Steps	Total Annual Kms	Annual % Change
2021	3742	2.1	1,365,830	766.5	+16%
2020	3217	1.8	1,174,205	657.0	+157%
2019	1253	0.67	457,345	244.5	+9%
2018	1155	0.64	421,575	233.6	-43%
2017	1984	1.2	736,205	438.0	Nil

The Good

I’m pretty happy with the steady increase in distance over the past four years. Going from 233 kilometers in 2018 to 766 kilometers is pleasing. I’m also pleased that the average daily distance walked is now slightly more than two kilometers a day.

The Bad

I desperately want to get to 1000 kilometers in a year. 766 is okay but it is short of where it should be. The 2021 average of 2.1 per day needs to go up to 2.7 if the 1000 kilometers is to be achieved.

The Ugly

Too many off days due to being bloody lazy. That must be fixed. Off days leave too much to do later on. I need to improve my speed. The 766 kilometers walked in 2021 was at an average speed of 2.9 kilometers an hour. That is actual walking speed. The occasional rest does not count.  

The Future

Keep pushing.