By Megan Wilcox, APR, ThedaCare Media and Public Relations
With just a few weeks left in the Pedometer Challenge, sponsored by ThedaCare and ThedaCare Orthopedic Care, I decided to open it up to some of the readers following the participants’ successes — and challenges – on Facebook. I posted the offer on ThedaCare and ThedaCare Orthopedic Care Facebook pages and picked three people to join in the Challenge as it enters its final weeks.
As part of the Challenge, which began in early February and runs through the end of April, participants received a pedometer and a log to record their daily step total. Every Monday, they send me the previous week’s total. The goal is to get in 10,000 steps a day – a number recommended by health officials.
Jerry Brien of Kaukauna had hip surgery in February and was curious how many steps he was getting in. In his first week, he totaled 92,456 steps – a great start! – and is excited to be involved.
Gina Sanders Larsen of Neenah signed up for the Challenge because she was curious about her daily step total. Like many of us, she spends a lot of time sitting in front of her computer.
“There’s no way I can reach 10,000 steps in a day without scheduling at least one run or two walks each day,” she says. “I am completely shocked to see how sedentary my lifestyle is although I know it will pick up significantly if we ever get some nice weather.”
Gina likes to run during the summer and while that will get her moving, she also plans to take walks during her lunch hour.
“I hope this will help give me an energy boost for that afternoon groggy slump,” she says. “I think the exercise of actually wearing a pedometer is a subtle, yet effective tap on my shoulder teaching me that I am not active enough.”
Sandra Slusarzyk also finds herself sitting behind a desk or in meetings much of the day. Now that she’s wearing a pedometer, she is trying to skip the elevator and take the stairs instead to increase her daily step count.
“I find when I sit in meetings all day the number is low – which I used as a visual reminder that I need to move when I get home,” Sandra says. “Two days last week I went for a walk with my daughter and dog because my number was really low.”
She also admitted to forgetting to wear the pedometer that first day since putting it on wasn’t part of her morning routine.
Sandra’s participation in the Challenge is sparking her 11-year-old daughter’s interest in figuring out how many steps she takes daily. “She wants a pedometer, too,” Sandra jokes.
