So, How'd You Do This Weekend?

One of my favorite threads on the GBA forum is the "How'd you do this weekend?" thread. I enjoy reading about all the hikes, wildflower sightings, off-roading adventures, out of the country trips, caching vacations, etc., that the local geocachers report about, often with many excellent photographs to document the experience.

I live vicariously through this thread, because I work every weekend, as weather allows, and when the weather doesn't allow, not a lot of people do much geocaching.

So, about a year and a half ago, I announced to the group that I would be going hiking every Monday morning and was looking for fellow hikers to accompany me. I wanted these hikes to include geocaching as much as possible. Also, I intended to make the hikes fairly short, three miles or less, not only to encourage people to come out who don't do a lot of hiking, but because I was sure I was too out of shape to do any better. I called them, "Monday Morning Wimp Hikes," as a way to differentiate them from the ever popular, hard-core hikers' "Death Marches."

The Monday morning hikes caught on rapidly and it wasn't long before the "wimp" element got left behind. I had no idea I could hike seven miles! On hills! Don't get me wrong, those hikes weren't easy. But I believe it was only the support and encouragement of the people who shared them with me that made it possible for me to do them. Because of them, I actually got some confidence to attempt a few two to four mile solo hikes. But hiking solo just isn't as much fun for me, and when the popularity of the hikes waned as people got new jobs or too busy or the weather got too extreme, I began to lose the incentive to get up early on a Monday morning after spending the weekend working.

Then, last fall, I got my Fitbit. There were two things I didn't realize until the day I got it. The first thing I realized was just how much weight I'd gained during the previous year. The second thing I realized was that a gadget could have just as much incentive as a human companion, even though it's still sadly lacking in fun conversation and help in spotting tough hides. The Fitbit got me back to walking and hiking more. Without doing anything different in my life other than making sure I fulfill my 10,000 steps per day, I've now lost nearly ten pounds since adding that gadget to my life. Now, when I think about how I did this weekend, I think about how many steps I walked, not how many other adventures I missed out on, or how many caches I did not get a chance to log. Better still, I'm beginning to look forward to getting up early on Monday mornings again.