I mentioned the other day that I was going to attempt a 50,000 step walk today. I came up with a two-phase plan. First I would walk around the perimeter of Camp Humphreys, from outside the fence.
This is a crappy picture but the only one I could access. It basically shows Camp Humphreys overlaid on Washington, DC. The point being, it’s a big ass base.
Phase 2 would be taking the long way into Pyeongtaek city. I figured both walks to be about the same in length and I thought they’d get me pretty close to the 50,000 step total I was looking to achieve. But could I actually walk that far? Let’s find out!
I began by putting some fuel in the belly then headed out into the cold morning air around 0715.
I was mildly optimistic…
So, I expended 2058 steps getting to the main gate, then had to return home…
Because like an idiot I forgot to bring my vaping pens…
So as I continued my circumnavigation of the base, I passed the walking gate at 4075 steps.
Passed the Dongchong-ri gate at 6364 steps…
Passed the back side of Eighth Army HQ where I work (the grey building) at 7084 steps.
Made a left turn on the river at 8405 steps.
Passed the railroad trestle at 12,347 steps.
Turned off the river just before the highway bridge at 17,508 steps…
Near the Dodu-ri gate at 18,605 steps.
Entered the deadly quite village of Bonjeong-ri at 21,950 steps.
Got to the CPX gate in 26,397 steps.
And completed the circuit around the base in 29,318 steps.
Made it home at 30,411 steps. I was tired and hungry. Made me this fine lunchee and rested for an hour.
Time to start Phase 2. I usually do this park after work because I can walk it in the dark. But I gave it a once around today as well at 31,648 steps.
Back to the river, but this time I turned right towards Pyeongtaek city which you can see off in the distance. 35,269 steps to this point.
The KTX blew by me at 38,311 steps.
Made it to the bridge into Pyeongtaek at 41,725 steps.
I arrived at Pyeongtaek Station in 43,610 steps.
Ah. Civilization does exist in these parts. Only required 44,183 steps to get there.
And there it is! My I just walked exactly 50,000 fucking steps face!
Made it the rest of the way home and preserved the evidence of a successful day of walking.
I do believe this was a once-in-a-lifetime event for me. I’m tired and sore, but thankfully no blisters or other signs of wear and tear. I do feel a sense of accomplishment which is a good thing for me.
Things are bound to keep getting better. Right?
Turning back the pages to the times I love best
I wonder if she’ll ever do the same
Now the thing that I call living is just being satisfied
With knowing I got no one left to blame
Carefree highway, got to see you my old flame
Carefree highway, you seen better days
The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewhM7I9gD4U
Amazing achievement! (Or as they say in the video-gaming world: achievement unlocked!) Congratulations on hitting 52K steps! I was jokingly thinking that a 7:30AM start was a bit too late in the day, but since you walk faster than I do, you covered more ground in less time (about 7.4 hours in your case, so I wasn’t far off in my previous guesstimation). Awesome!
Interesting: your stats put you at approximately 50K steps and 25 miles, which is what my stats would be for such a trip (see my previous comment). This means that, while your speed is different from mine, our stride lengths must be almost the same. This also means that, were we to start walking together, you’d pull away in due course, thus forcing me to jog just to keep up.
I just did the math: you were walking about 3.3 mph, which means you’d pull away from me for sure, but fairly slowly.
On a more sober note: I don’t know about your FitBit, but my pedometer can’t be trusted when it comes to measuring walking distance: it’s about 10-20% too generous in its overestimation. Have you mapped your route on Naver or Google to see what the raw distance was? (I doubt the measurements would vary much.)
Anyway, a huge congratulations to you on this red-letter day. 50K steps is a great milestone, and now that the deed is done, no one can take that away from you.
Congrats, John! That is a monster walk, indeed!
Great walk! Congratulations.
Thanks guys, appreciate the support!
You know, when I using a step counting app on the phone and with the fitbit, I take it all with a grain of salt. I don’t know how accurate it is in mileage assessment, but it is consistent. I can almost set my clock by when I reach the 10,000 step milestone…I’m always right at 7,000 steps per hour. Of course yesterday I was taking photos along the way, so that added to the elapsed time somewhat.
Anyway, it was a good walk and I’m glad I did it. Once!
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