#stepping

.BY SARA HALL

Every year when Fitbit Goal Day rolls around, I think about the time, early on in my career, when I learned the power of setting tangible goals. It was my senior year of high school, and I hadn’t yet achieved my career goal of a Foot Locker Cross Country National Championship. 

I was motivated to go after this win in my final year, but the season started out rocky. I had been in Holland for a large chunk of the summer on a mission trip and hadn’t gotten in the training I needed—and it showed. I lost a lot of my local league meets and was far from where I needed to be to compete with the nation’s best.

Despite this, I made a poster to hang above my bed where I would see it every day. It said “2000 Foot Locker National Champion, 4-Time State Champion” as my secondary goal was to become the first person in California history to win four consecutive state cross country titles. I kept chipping away in training towards this goal, doing strides outside my house on terrain that resembled the national championship cross country course and visualizing myself breaking the tape.

I lost my league championship race and section championship race, but when the state and national championships rolled around my body aligned with what my mind had rehearsed and I ended up narrowly winning both! They were basically the only two races I won that year. I had learned first hand the power of having goals and visualizing myself achieving them

YOU CAN DO THIS!

A goal that’s easy to achieve doesn’t give you the same sense of satisfaction as a hard goal that initially seems impossible. Part of the fun of goal setting is the journey as you rise up to achieve that challenge. It’s easy to stay in your “comfort zone”—exercising your usual amount and at an intensity that doesn’t hurt too much or require too much courage or toughness. You might go weeks without ever really having to look yourself in the eyes and say, “You can do this!”

But it’s those “You can do this!” moments that develop character and make you feel fully alive. Not giving up on that goal in high school—no matter how impossible it seemed—is something I still draw on for inspiration 17 years later.

Saturday, May 20 is Goal Day and the perfect opportunity to challenge yourself. Maybe you want to hit 10,000 steps for the first time or double your average step count. Whatever your goal, just make sure it’s something that makes you feel a little nervous or scared—something just outside the realm of what you know is possible.

Keep track of your steps throughout the day using your Fitbit tracker or Fitbit app, and celebrate your progress rather than focusing on how much further you have to go. I’ll be setting the goal of taking 25,000 steps (running and walking combined), which is more than I’ve taken any day this year with the exception of running the Tokyo Marathon.

To get in on the Goal Day fun, visit fitbit.com/goal-day for information as well as instructions on how to earn a Goal Day badge in your Fitbit app. Share your experience on social media using the hashtag #FitbitGoalDay2017. 

Happy stepping!

This article is not intended to substitute for informed medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or condition. Always check with your doctor before changing your diet, altering your sleep habits, taking supplements, or starting a new fitness routine.

SARA HALL

Sara Hall is one of America’s premier distance runners. She was the 2012 US National Cross Country Champion and a Gold Medalist at the Pan American Games in the steeplechase, and has also represented the US at three World Indoor Track and Field Championships as well as a World Cross Country Championship. Sara and her husband (and fellow Fitbit ambassador), Ryan Hall, founded The Hall Steps Foundation in 2009 to engage the running community in bringing better health to those in extreme poverty.

We all know the feeling. That stomach-plummeting despair when you’re strolling to work, walking the dog or out on a run and you look down at your wrist and realise: you’ve forgotten your Fitbit. 

Any Fitbit addict knows the disappointment of steps missed, challenges lost and lower leaderboard positions, all because you didn’t remember that one thing to lead you to glory.

If you’re obsessed by your step count, there might be all sorts of things you’d rather forget than your Fitbit…

Your Anniversary

What’s two weeks of sleeping on the sofa compared to breaking your 10,000 step target streak for the month?

A Meeting With Your Boss

You can always find another job. Know what you can’t find? All those steps you missed out on because you left your tracker on charge.

Your Passport At The Airport

So you spent six months saving for the trip of a lifetime, but you can’t go because you didn’t bring your passport to the airport. The silver lining: think of all those extra steps running back to get it.

A Phone Charger

You’re at 1% battery, you’re away for the weekend, and you’ve left your charger behind. Ah. Time to swap social media for steps, instead.

Mother’s Day

She might have brought you into this world, but there’s no way you’re letting Mum beat you on the steps leaderboard again. You can grovel later.

Meeting The Parents

First impressions are everything. So is Fitbit. You love your S.O, but you need those steps too - surely their parents will understand.

Your Child’s First Birthday

The little one won’t remember, really. But the memory of a narrowly lost Weekend Warrior will haunt you forever (and taunt your leaderboard).

Eden Project Communities are firm believers that small steps make a BIG difference. 

JOIN THE GREAT BIG WALK! You’re invited to join us on The Great Big Walk, connecting people and communities across the UK 29 MAY - 18 JUNE, don’t forget your Fitbit!

What better way to highlight that than walking across the UK to connect people and celebrate community in the lead up to The Big Lunch on Sunday 18 June?

The Big Lunch is an Eden Project initiative made possible by the National Lottery. It has grown tenfold since starting in 2009, and last year over 7.3 million people took part across 90,000 events. Big Lunches are all sizes, with everyone brings something to the table, but people are the key ingredient. 

Bigger And Better Steps in 2017

2017 is set to be the biggest community celebration the UK has ever seen, as they have partnered with the Jo Cox Foundation forThe Great Get Together: a weekend of community festivities (16–18 June), of which The Big Lunch forms the highlight on the 18th. This year, The Big Lunch is on the move!

The Great Big Walk

On 29 May, 15 walkers will set off on foot in five different directions from Batley to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Cornwall, and London. Each team will walk home, back to their communities, in time for The Big Lunch.

Along the route, the walkers will quite literally connect communities by stopping off along the way to shine a light on ordinary people doing extraordinary things to bring communities together. They will share conversations, food, stories and experiences together — just like The Big Lunch! People are the key ingredient when it comes to community spirit, and positive connections are made when we take the time to walk and talk together.

The walkers will be joined by special guests along the way, and of course by communities coming out in support. We’re gearing up for lots of incredible stories, which we’ll be sharing across our social media channels along with frequent updates from the walkers.

Stats & Facts

• 97% of people in the UK believe community projects have a positive impact on society 
  
• 96% believe the cost of running community services is higher in disconnected communities 
  
• 98% of people who’ve organised a Big Lunch would recommend it to friends and family
  
• 88% of Big Lunchers feel better about their neighbourhoods as a result of taking part
  
• 77% of Big Lunchers make new friendships they’d like to continue
  
• 65% of Big Lunch organisers go on to do more in their community
  
• 38% of Big Lunchers feel an increased sense of self esteem
  
• £522 per year is saved by Big Lunchers who know and share with their neighbours
  
• £2.9 billion per year is currently saved, as neighbourliness eases demand on public services
  
• £23.8 billion per year could be saved through connected communities
  
• 1% gain in UK GDP could be seen through increased economic productivity encouraged by community initiatives
  

Anyone can get involved in The Great Big Walk, whether or not the walkers pass through a place near you. Start by organising a walk: from a stroll with a neighbour to a tour with the whole town — or anything in between! 

Share your photos and messages of support for the walkers online using #GreatBigWalk. Then, as the walkers arrive home, celebrate with your new walking buddies by joining in with The Big Lunch on 18 June!

Imagine all the steps you will achieve by joining in with your Fitbit!

Find out more here