One Year of 10,000+ Steps

My walk last night wasn’t particularly spectacular. It was long – a rainy day meant the bulk of my steps came during my evening walk (a little over three miles worth). I got lucky and caught a perfect break in the weather – not a drop of rain, though I was dressed for it just in case. The only notable things were the loud fight in one of the homeless encampments next to my route (Alli and I opted for a detour…) and my Fitbit’s heart rate sensor kept going flaky on me – an increasingly common trend of my weather-beaten Charge 4. But other than that, it was just another walk.

Oh, and it marked the 365th consecutive day I’ve gotten at least 10,000 steps.

That’s a milestone that I find both awe-inspiring and mundane. Awe-inspiring because I have done this now for a year – come rain, come frigid temperatures, traveling, working two and three jobs, illnesses (oh yeah, I got covid this year, too!), everything that has happened in the course of a year and I still managed to get at least 10,000 steps in every. Single. Day.

But it’s a bit of a mundane milestone because, when I set out to do this – and you’d best believe this was a deliberate effort – my goal was simple: wake up every day with the knowledge that I would get 10,000 steps in. Not “I might get my steps in.” Not “I hope to…” No, just an ingrained knowledge that as sure as I got out of bed, I was going to get 10,000 steps in.

So, when I went to my log and typed in “11237” for my steps yesterday it felt… unremarkable. After all, I’d done 11,507 the day before, and almost 16 thousand steps the day before that… But it was remarkable – 11 thousand steps is not insignificant, and 10,000 steps for a year is an achievement!

A few years ago when I started walking for health – before we got Alli and I convinced myself I was walking for her – I remember walking across the valley floor at Armstrong Woods. It was late afternoon and I was crisscrossing the flat trails in the dappled light through the redwoods and I thought first how lucky I was to just be there among those majestic trees. And then I thought how lucky I was to be able simply walk there. I don’t think I was at my heaviest at that point, but I was pretty close and I found myself in tears because I was so grateful my body was holding up as well as it had.

At the time I had a gym membership, but I had more excuses for not going than I had actual attendance figures. But walking? In a goddamn redwood forest? That I could do. And I did. Because I could. Because I owed it to my body that put up with my neglect.

There’s a recurring reminder I set probably just after that walk to “Get 3 10,000 step days in a week!” I don’t remember when I wrote it, but I remember at the time that was a very ambitious goal – one I didn’t often hit!

One year of 10,000+ step days.

I mentioned I keep a log of my steps, and it’s yielded some interesting stats for this period:

  • 365: number of consecutive 10,000 step days (as already stated).
  • 2,309: number of miles walked over that period.
  • 4,953,094: total number of steps taken over that period (that boggles my mind).
  • 41,180: highest number of steps in one day during that period (that was my Mount Tam hike in September!).
  • 10,082: the fewest steps in a day during that period.
  • 39.8: the number of pounds I’ve lost since starting this quest.

It’s been quite a year! I absolutely intend on continuing as long as I can. In a few days I’ll celebrate the year anniversary of consecutively meeting my other metrics (steps, floors, distance, calories, and “zone minutes”). This has been phenomenal for my health and I am only going to keep working on it!

Here’s to the next year!

31 Ghosts – Costume

Here we are at October 31 – Halloween! It’s been quite a month! Thank you all for coming along for the ride this year! If you’re interested and still haven’t gotten your copy yet, the actual print book “31 Ghosts Volume 1: 2017-2019” is available at Amazon and other bookstores. I’m not going to make grandiose plans for the rest of the year like I seem to do at the end of October every year. But I will say the eBook and audiobook version of Volume 1 of 31 Ghosts will hopefully be done before your Thanksgiving leftovers! Fingers crossed. That’s all I’m going to commit to for now. Thanks again! This marks the sixth year of 31 Ghosts and I hope you enjoy these stories even half as much as I do! Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to get some sleep!

“Andy, you have to help me with my costume for tonight!”

“Tyler, we’re ghosts. We don’t do costumes!”

Tyler gave him a frown. “Just because we’re ghosts doesn’t mean we can’t dress up! It’s Halloween! The one night we can walk among the living!”

“Why don’t you go as, I don’t know,” he looked at the translucent figure before him, “A ghost.”

Tyler looked at him sternly. “Andy, if you’re not going to take this seriously…”

“How can I take this seriously, Tyler? We’re ghosts! Where did this whole costume thing come from?”

“I was just thinking that the kids around the neighborhood looked so cute. I’m tired of watching Halloween from the window of this attic. I want to go out there,” he gestured towards the street. “And if I want to go out there I need a costume!”

“Zombie?” Andy suggested.

Tyler screwed up his face like he bit into a lemon. “Eww, no! No self-respecting ghost would go as a lowly zombie.”

“I’m sorry,” Andy said. “I had no idea you were prejudiced against zombies.”

“What about a cucumber?” Tyler said.

“Yeah, do that…” Andy agreed.

“I can’t believe you would suggest I go as a cucumber. That’s a terrible costume!”

“What? Then why did you… Ugh! This is ridiculous!”

“Not as ridiculous as a cucumber costume,” Tyler mumbled under his breath.

“Okay, I’ve got it,” Andy said.

“Really?”

Later that night Andy and Tyler slipped out of the attic down the creaky stairs past the livings downstairs and outside. They started down the sidewalk just behind a group of kids dressed as various Marvel characters.

Tyler turned to Andy and admired his costume. “You know, Andy, I have to hand it to you, this is perfect.”

“It’s classic. And you can’t go wrong with a classic,” he said as they floated along under their white sheets with the eyes cut out to see.

31 Ghosts – The Birthday Ghost

Happy Birthday to me! Early in our relationship, Akilah took me to Chevy’s on my birthday and totally outed me to the waitress. I still have the sombrero on the wall by the kitchen. At this Chevy’s no one’s safe…

“So… yeah, that’s about it. Do you have any questions before I have you shadow Jessica on the floor?” Amy asked Lauren, the new waitress.

“I do have a question, but… it’s kind of weird,” her cheeks colored.

“Please, feel free to ask! The more you know…” Amy said cheerfully.

“Well,” Lauren started, “Is it true what they say about this place?”

“About Chevy’s?”

“No, about this Chevy’s,” she said conspiratorially.

“Oh!” Amy said with understanding. “Yeah, unfortunately, it’s true. Greg the dishwasher will totally try to hit on you,” she said quietly. “But he’s a decent guy – just tell him you like girls or you’re not interested and he’ll legit back off and not bother you again.”

“No, not that…” She looked around and asked with a voice barely above a whisper, “Is this place really… haunted?”

“Oh, that,” Amy said and took a deep breath. “So… yes. It is haunted.”

“Have you seen the ghost?”

“I don’t think anyone here has actually seen the ghost, but I think all of us are familiar with him.”

“Him?”

“You know,” Amy had an idea, “I think I’ll let you find out on the floor with Jessica.”

They met Jessica in the kitchen as she was grabbing plates for a customer. “Jessica, this is Lauren. She’s going to shadow you, okay?”

“Hi,” Jessica flashed Lauren a smile. “Sounds good. You’ve had waitressing experience?”

“Yeah,” Lauren said, “a couple years.”

“Great. Here,” she handed Lauren four plates. “You can help me drop for this 8-top. Best way to learn is by jumping right in.”

They set the plates down at the table, Jessica asked if they needed anything else and both women started back towards the kitchen.

Without warning, an icy shiver ran up Lauren’s back. The shock of the sensation momentarily took her breath away and she was grateful they’d set the plates down because she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have dropped them.

A voice so near her ear she could feel the wind from the speaker said, “Ray, third on the right, table 19”.

She instinctively looked towards where the voice came from but there was no one there. She shivered and composed herself and kept walking. Only then did she notice Jessica looking at her.

“Did you feel it?”

Lauren’s eyes widened. “Yeah, what was that?”

“And you heard him, right? Ray, third on the right? Table 19?”

“What…I don’t understand. Who was that? Who’s Ray?”

“We just dropped table 19,” Jessica explained. “Looks like Ray is the one in the baseball hat, red shirt,” she turned and pointed discreetly.”

“Okay, but… what was that voice? That chill?”

“That’s… the birthday ghost.”

“The what?”

“The birthday ghost. Everyone has theories on who he is, how he died, whatever. But the thing is he seems to scope out all the parties and then tells the server if someone has a birthday at their table.”

“That’s crazy!”

“I know.” Then Jessica added excitedly, “I’ve got a friend who’s psychic. She came in one night and said she made contact with the ghost. She said he told her he was with his family, and it was his little brother’s birthday, and he swore everyone to secrecy – no one could tell the waitress it was his birthday because he was terrified of getting the sombrero and the staff singing happy birthday to him. The brother was going to tell the waitress – as brothers will do, of course – but apparently had a freak aneurysm in the bathroom. Died like instantly.”

“Oh my god! When was this?” Lauren asked.

“No idea. My friend couldn’t get a date, and no one here knows anything about a kid dying in the bathroom. But my friend said the ghost haunts this place for the sole purpose of finding out whose birthday it is and letting us know.”

“That sounds like a terrible afterlife!” Lauren shook her head.

“Yeah, kind of does,” Jessica agreed. “But, I don’t know, at least the ghost has all you can eat chips and salsa!” she smiled. “Let’s get a sombrero for Ray at table 19.”