To track my training progress for The 3Day (see widget in sidebar), I got a fancy new pedometer. I haven’t had one for years and years, and was pleasantly surprised at the technical advances that they’ve made. No more pendulums; these babies are all digital. And tiny! This one is only about 1/4″ thick, so it fits nicely into my pocket.

I didn’t want to spring for the ultra-fancy kind with GPS and auto-syncing to the Internet, but I am happy with the one I bought. I love the digital step sensor, as it allows me to put the pedometer anywhere on my person and in any position (pendulum ones need to go vertically on your hip). I had this clipped to my coat on my morning commute and was pleased to see I clocked over 3,000 steps just getting to work. That means without any added exercise time, I get more than half the recommended daily 10,000 steps! I think I need to fine-tune the stride length in order to get an accurate distance calculation, but it’s pretty close. I’m excited to start my training routine; gotta work up to the twenty miles per day I’ll be doing in September. I also sent out my first fundraising letters – not an easy thing to do, asking folks for donations; hopefully they feel it’s as good a cause as I do.