The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Tuesday 1 February 2011

January (with a gratuitous graph alert!)

At the turn of the year, when I was announcing last year’s walking statistics, Mick asked me how many miles per day I had averaged over the year. The answer was 4.97. It wasn’t something that I’d considered before, but upon doing that sum, and realising that I’d fallen just 12 miles short of averaging 5 miles per day I decided that 5 miles per day seemed like a good average to aim for this year – or 1825 miles for the whole year.

With the first month of the year been and gone I’m pleased to see that I’m pretty well on target so far.

Here’s this January compared with the same month for the previous five years:

image

“Start as you mean to go on” I always say. It’d be nice if one year I managed to go on as I’d started!

11 comments:

  1. You do realise, don't you, that by the time you are in your 80's you'll be doing over 1000 miles each January.
    [I know you love statistics!]

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  2. Gratuitous? Perhaps.
    Satisfying? Definitely.

    Martin's right, of course. It'll end in tears...

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  3. That looks horribly like a corporate year-on-year profit/sales/turnoveer etc spreadsheet report!!!

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  4. This looks like a slippery slope on the way to becoming a runner!

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  5. Impressive...shuffles off feeling totally inadequate...

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  6. I should have said that I see this year's January as being the peak of January performance. I won't be aiming to beat that mileage in years to come. No fear of 1000-mile Januaries forty years hence!

    Mike - Well, I don't get to play with graphs much at work, so it justifies playing with them at home :-)

    Tony - Evidence over 20 years of on-and-off shuffling would suggest that my running mileage is not in danger of ever coming close to touching my walking mileage! When it comes to running, I am particularly pathetic.

    Louise - Hey - shuffle on back! I'm not setting any benchmark of adequacy here (more one of obsessiveness).

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  7. I was only joking, Gayle!
    Glad you liked Sue's pic, btw - I'm playing with Facebook whilst in a room with someone who uses it all the time. Next stop: Lexulous...
    Managed to pick up my own dismal January mileage with 162km of x-c skiing. Hopefully a few trips to the Lakes and Snowdonia in Feb.

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  8. But my obsessiveness is inadequate by comparison! Unless you darn your favourite walking socks and mitts, like I just did at lunch time. Now that is becoming a new sad obsession of mine. Oh dear.

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  9. Louise - I confess that I have never darned any walking socks, but they do always go bare on the heel before I get any holes in them to darn. I have sewn gloves back together many times though. Seem to have a talent for choosing gloves that fall apart at the seams (then there was the small incident with the glove and a hot stove...)

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  10. Martin - For the avoidance of doubt, I didn't really think you were serious about me walking 1000 miles a month as an octogenarian!

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  11. No, Gayle, in my own mind I have you on a bike by then, on which 1000 miles a month should be quite feasible...

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