COLUMN: Stepping up to the March challenge to #MakeMoreSurvivors

One of the biggest technology phenomena of the last decade has to be the fitness watch.

In a very short time it has gone from being a niche gadget for exercise enthusiasts to everyday wear for everyday people. And it has helped turn many a couch potato into a 10,000-a-day step goal achiever.

I’m one of those people. Or at least I was until the first lockdown when I started working from home. An autoimmune condition makes it all but impossible to control my weight, so healthy eating and regular exercise are really important. Over the last five years since I bought my first Fitbit, I had got into such a routine that I was clocking up my step goal without much thought or planning.

I have been lucky enough to have kept my job throughout the coronavirus crisis and that is not something I take for granted. I am well aware that many of the people out walking the roads everyday to keep themselves sane would be delighted to be sitting at their desk, up to their eyes in work.

However, there have often been days when my step count didn’t even reach 1,000. My daily commute of bedroom to kitchen to sitting room in a modest bungalow meant that I had to learn to factor in time for short walks, and I had to make a conscious effort to go outside and get some fresh air each day.

At some point I misplaced my Fitbit charger and didn’t try too hard to find it. Once a source of feelings of accomplishment, the figures it had been giving me during those few months did not make good reading. 

Before long, the decline in my fitness began to show. At the same time, it was becoming evident that the pandemic wasn’t going to stop any time soon and the idea of returning to ‘normal’ seemed further away than ever. And so I ordered a new charger and started to pay a lot more attention to my steps again.

Being back in the office helps too, and it makes it easier to build some exercise into my daily routine. But I’m still a long way off my 10,000 steps a day. In fact, these days I aim for a more realistic goal of 5,000.

I thought I was alone in this, since the roads in my area always seem to be busy with people out walking. 

Then, a few weeks ago I signed up to a challenge - one of the many step-related fundraisers on Facebook. Every second person on social media seems to be doing a walking or running challenge for charity, and this is an unexpected consequence of the fitness watch craze - it really lends itself to being a tool for fundraising for worthy causes while raising awareness of charities and helping participants to improve their own health. This has been particularly beneficial for charities during the pandemic when traditional fundraisers could not go ahead.

I would go so far as to say that this type of fundraising has become the equivalent of the door-to-door raffle ticket sales.

I’ve done a few of these challenges before but the one I’ve signed up for now is 310,000 Steps in March in aid of Breakthrough Cancer Research.

The slogan on the t-shirt is #MakeMoreSurvivors and I found this to be very motivational. Many of us have been touched by cancer. We all know someone who was taken too soon by the disease, and we also know people who have been through cancer and come out the other side - changed physically and emotionally by their experience but valuing life and time with loved ones in a way that they never did before. 

And that is the crux of it. Cancer research gives time; time to live, time to appreciate life and to cherish every experience, and not just to cancer survivors but to their loved ones too. 

On joining the Facebook group for those who signed up for the challenge, I realised that I was far from being alone in having a seriously diminished daily step average. 

In fact, most of the people in the group were in the same boat and were using the motivation given to them by the drive to ‘make more survivors’ to get back on top of their own health. 

This was very reassuring, and the support for each other among the members is heart-warming and encouraging. 

I’ve been trying to build up my steps so that it won’t be too much of a shock to the system come March 1, and it has been lovely getting out and about just as the first signs of spring start to show.

This lockdown has been the toughest so far for a lot of people. The dark winter nights and short days have made it hard for people to get out and about. 

But there is - as we love to point out - a grand stretch in the evenings now, and it is getting brighter by the day. 

If you need a bit of extra motivation to get moving, why not join me in the Breakthrough Cancer Research 310,000 Steps a Day in March challenge - or find one that is close to your own heart and will give you that extra boost of motivation to keep putting one foot in front of the other. 

You never know whose life your efforts will save - indeed, it could very well be your own.