Steppingwolf

I like to walk.

I also like to hike, but that's walking anyway, except it usually involves doing it up a hill and while surrounded by the cheap showiness of nature.

Walking helps me to think. The metronome like aspect of my own footfalls tends to lull me into an almost meditative state, silencing the noisier and more irritating aspects of my brain.

So, when some of my new TPM colleagues asked for participants for STEPtember, it was a good opportunity for me to kill a plethora of birds with but a single stone:

• I get to meet and interact with some of my new colleagues
• I get more motivation to walk, an activity I already enjoy
• I get to support a good cause, fighting against Cerebral Palsy

When they sweetened the pot with some light competition (i.e. let's see who can do the most steps each week) it sealed the deal.

Anyway, I bought a walking pad that I could put under my standing desk, safe and secure in the knowledge that even if I only did an hour or two of walking like that each day, when it was combined with the normal walks I do each morning and evening, my victory would be assured.

It was not.

Even putting in over 20K steps every day, I'm still only like 8th on the Atlassian leaderboard for STEPtember.

I can't have that.

This is all just a long and drawn-out way of saying that before September ends, I'm going to walk from my house to a local mountain in Brisbane, then walk up that mountain to the summit.

Then I'm going to walk home.

Assuming I can.

If I succeed, it will be a ~50km walk, taking somewhere around 10-12 hours, and accruing probably 100,000-140,000 steps.

Now, I know this isn't going to be enough to rocket me to the top of even the Atlassian leaderboard, because there are some crazy people there, and I just can't muster that same level of insanity.

But it will make me feel a little bit better about myself, because I tried.

Also, if you go and donate some money here, not only will I appreciate the gesture and interpret it as validation of my activities, perhaps humanity will get one step closer to dealing with that whole Cerebral Palsy situation.

Which can only be a good thing.