50,000 steps a day for 50 days

I turn 50 this year. I know 50 is a significant age for most people, but for me it's also my father's age when he died. I'd only just turned three, so I don't have many memories of him, but I'd still like to mark the occasion by doing something in his memory and, hopefully, do a little good at the same time.

Some people run marathons to raise money for charity. Myself, I can't stand running, but I like walking, and, since 50 is the number of the moment, I thought I could walk 50,000 steps a day for 50 days. Now, 50,000 steps might not sound like much, but the average person walks about 5,000 steps a day, and 50,000 is... more. It takes me about 7 hours each day, and that's in addition to my job. Fitting all the walking around that involves leaving the house at 5:50 am for a three-hour walk, walking for an hour during my lunch break, and ending with a three-hour walk after work.

I’m covering about 25 miles or 40 km a day (I measured - it came out to 24.8 miles, forgive me for rounding up). Over the 50 days, I’ll have walked 1250 miles or 2000 km, and a total of 2.5 million steps.

It's a lot of walking.

I'm hoping to raise money for Richmond's Hope www.richmondshope.org.uk. They're a small charity based in Edinburgh (I'm from a small town just outside the city), who offer support for children and young people who've been bereaved, which is a cause close to my heart.