Al’s Corner – January 2021

2021 Is Finally Here, My Challenge

Another month and year have ended, so it is time for the January 2021 version of my Al’s Corner note. 

Ladies Day Update—A hardy but small group attended the Annual Ladies Day event this year held at the incredible MAC in downtown St. Louis. Looking forward to next year being much bigger as we solute our ladies in the industry.

The Pandemic- Lots of words could describe 2020.Words like surprising, never ending, ick, terrible, depressing, sad, lonely, inconvenient, devasting, life changing and altering to name a few. When I started writing about the virus in April, I did not think that we would have 300,000 deaths and the millions of cases. Nor did I think I would get it, but I did. I felt that our incredible healthcare system and ingenuity would stop it. But, I did not foresee a few key factors that would keep this thing growing and growing.

*Just how easily and completely it can spread

*How selfish many of us are

*Letting your guard down if only briefly (me) would be all it would take

*The ridiculous debate on if masks help or not (I believe they do a lot as it is mostly airborne)

*The incredible number of families that would take a huge risk to see their families during the holidays

*It will happen to me, anyway, so why worry about it.  Terrible.

These were the main ones to me, but you could add social unrest, rally’s, political divide etc.….

All of us should never forget what a great job our healthcare system professionals and global scientists have done, they have been amazing. The development of great treatments on the fly in the hospitals, long hours and our government providing financial assistance in creating vaccines in record time has saved, and will in the future save, and protect millions of people. THANKS SO MUCH!

One last thought, Missouri, just across the river, is reopening indoor dinning on January 4^th. Of course, they will have some restrictions on how many can be seated at one time and masks when entering and leaving and such.  But, what I really found interesting is that they are asking customers for their cell phone and name so they can contact trace. I realize that for some this may be inconvenient, but I like the fact that the state and local governments are being proactive instead of just guessing and keeping these businesses closed like they are in Illinois. I pray other leaders adapt and follow this same script.

My Challenge and a Pick Me Up for 2021-Since April 17, 2020, I have walked 10,000 steps every day without missing a day through today January 1^st.  Anyone want to join me and walk that many every day till April 16or longer? You can easily find me on Rockfarm St. Louis’ Facebook or private message me if you want guidance, assistance, or support. Or you can start this journey on your own since this is for you anyway.

My journey, I never started this step goal thinking even for a minute I would do it every day till the end of the year. My previous longest streak was 22 days. Now I am at 260 days. 

The biggest things that you must have:

1.  A step counter or use one on your cell phone.
2.  You will need to invest an hour of your time per day to get to 7,000-8,000, no matter how you get to that hour (all at once, or 20 minutes 3 times in a day) of movement. The rest of your steps will come from every day moving around eating, bathroom (for older people like me bathroom might be 3,000 steps!!!), totaling around 2,000-2,500 steps.

Movement can be Weightlifting, Stationary Bike or Riding a Bike, Elliptical, Dancing, Stepping in Place, Running and so on.

•  Planning each day, or days ahead is key– How you will get it done, either by walking outside (watching the weather seeing when the best times would be) or inside at home or a gym.
•  Hold Yourself Accountable– Remember you are doing this for you (or your family, or kids too, whatever motivates you).  If you cannot get it done one day, try and make that up by the end of the week or something (70,000 is the weekly minimum).
•  If you do not think you can get 10,000 make your goal 8,000, that equals 4 miles, or 5,000 is 2 ½ miles.  Get going.

For me, physically it has been kind of hard as I have a left heel that kills me most days after I get done, and I have cushions in my shoes too. I hated the extreme heat now that it is the cold weather (on these types of days I would walk 20 minutes in the morning, then mix in more as the day went on).  I have lost about 10 pounds too.  I also realize that I can easily outeat my exercise.  So, it is diet too if you want to lose weight, probably more diet. The toughest days were when I had Covid-19. I was tired, and getting the steps (slowly) kind of wore on me, like should I, or shouldn’t I? I am glad I did it now.

Down the road, I may modify my goal to say 70,000 steps per week=10,000 per day. If you took the 70,000 per week number my average has been easily that for the past 5 years. If I ever went to the weekly average it would make it easier on bad weather days, or if I am terribly busy or driving a long distance. In that case I would make it up on a slower day. For now, I want to reach 1 full year, then for the whole year of 2021 at 10,000 steps per day or more.  

So, that is it for another month of Al’s Corner, good luck, I pray you stay safe and have a fantastic New Year!!! 

Al Hursey Rockfarm St. Louis