I have been sharing a lot about how keeping track of our miles has be SUPER motivating for me to get out and walk with Zorro.
I even signed us up for several virtual races. We received two medals that we “won” yesterday! Whoot whoot! We completed two half marathons, at our own pace and in our own time. Below is our Be Fierce Series medal with the adorable little Kricket mini horse. She competes with her big “sister” in endurance rides. Both she and her owner have inspired me in the last year to start keeping track of our walks and drives. It’s so fun to see the miles rack up!
As I mentioned yesterday, Zorro and I have walked 51 miles since Jan 2nd. If we keep this up we will walk/drive several 100 miles this year! Of course the weather will play a part in how much we can get out. Keeping us both sound and happy is going to be key! So we are both working on getting into shape so we can enjoy a lovely year of making miles together.
I get lots of questions about how I keep track of my miles. I was gifted a Smart Watch for Christmas (Thank you Janie and Maren!!!) and I have been using that to track our walks. The GPS works in the watch even when we are out of cell range. I have found my phone quits tracking us if we are out of range AND the battery always dies when we are out- even when I start with a 100% battery. Running the tracking apps just takes too much battery. So my watch is a wonderful alternative!!
My favorite app (after trying quite a few different ones…) is Strava. This is available for apple devices only. I’m not sure what app would be best for the android phones/watches. If you have an android device and use an app you like please share that below!!
I use the Outdoor Walk for when we are ground driving and the Outdoor Ride for when I am driving in the cart. Both are very accurate. I have walked our walk and then I drove my Tahoe up there, did the trip mileage and the Strava app was accurate, to the decimal point. I found in my search that the elevation that I gain, as I climb up into the hills, can mess up some of the tracking apps and they think we have gone much farther than we actually went. I had one that said we went over 6 miles when the accurate mileage was 3 miles. So some can be very off. It’s only fun for me if the miles tracked are accurate ones.
If getting a medal would also be a motivator for you then I suggest Run Motivators. You can sign up for virtual races and compete on your own time at your own pace. They have challenges which are long term ‘races’. Over time you keep track of your miles and earn the medal for 25, 50 and 100 miles races! There is even one called Invincible – where you run (or walk) 1200 miles in 2019! The medals you win are very nice and fun to hang on your wall.
Zorro and I will continue to march on through the year. Once he is in the bike then we will be using the biking tracking system and will continue to track our miles. We will be hiking this summer and doing lots of walking as well so I can continue to get in shape. So far we made a great start! If you are interested in doing this and have any questions please shoot me an email or put your question below in the comments. I’ll be happy to help if I can!