Soul on Sole: Another 366 Days of Walking

Summary

I completed another 365 days of walking in 2024, covering a total of 1,941km over the year – the equivalent of 46 marathons (one every 8 days or so) – averaging 5.3km per day.

In total, I spent 360 hours on 370 activities, walking an average of 37km per week (or 162km per month) and the annual total of 1,941km is the equivalent of walking to Warsaw in Poland, Rome in Italy, or Rabat or Morocco, and would get you to within 100km of the southern coast of Greenland.

This was a continuation of a journey that began in 2022 (see You’ll Never Walk Alone: Reflections of 365 Days of Walking and Walk On: Another 365 Days of Walking) where I’ve now walked a grand total 5,531km. That’s the equivalent of 131 marathons and, as the crow flies, this would get you to Northern Kazakhstan, Ridyad in Saudi Arabia, Central Cameroon, or Washington D.C.

NOTE: The data represented in the graphic above contains one very long cycle (during a visit to the USA) which has been factored out of all the other calculations referenced herein.

Goal Setting and Revision

Having exceeded my arbitrary goal of 1,500km in 2023, I set my sights on something slightly more ambitious in 2024 and decided to aim for an average of 5km per day. With 366 days in 2024 (a leap year), this worked out at an annualised goal of 1,830km which translated into a weekly goal of 35km and a monthly goal of 152.5km.

Fortunately, I managed to build up quite a buffer (100km) over the first 9 months of the year, aided by some decent weather and managing to stay largely illness and injury free, and actually hit the annual goal towards the end of October.

I therefore decided to adjust my goal upwards to keep the motivation going. I toyed with a couple of ambitious numbers (e.g. 2,000km, 50 marathons) but they were simply too unrealistic in the time available so I settled on 1,941km instead – the exact equivalent of 46 marathons (46 x 42.195).

Activity Tracking

I continued to use the (free version of the) Strava app to track my progress in 2024 as well, which allowed me to track the distance and duration of each walk, as well as the shoes used and a brief description of the walk.

Entering the brief descriptions took a bit of effort, I won’t lie, but it was fun to use that data to later produce a visual summary of the efforts in the form of Word Clouds (more later).

Equipment

There was no real change in the equipment used in 2024 either, with the following items remaining on my list of absolute essentials:

  • Shoes: Any decent walking shoes will suffice but I chose Nike Pegasus 40 because they give me the option to try jogging from time to time as well.
  • Earphones: I use Samsung Galaxy Buds and they’ve been brilliant – really comfortable with no protruding parts, terrific sound and really excellent battery life (one week, easily).
  • Spotify (or equivalent): Any source of music or podcasts will suffice, but I personally could not walk without listening to something as I’d get bored too quickly.
  • Weather Tracker: Doing anything outdoors in Ireland requires careful planning around the weather. I used the RTE Weather service to plan the optimum time (day or night) to avoid the wind and rain, and after two years of using it, I’m very, very confident in its accuracy.

Apart from this, like last year, a decent jacket and hat during winter and some breathable t-shirts and shorts during summer should set you up for ample success.

Diet

In a word: Porridge.

You definitely need to be mindful of your meals when walking such distances and durations, both in terms of timing and food choice. While there are clearly lots of options to choose from here, by far the most effective one for me was Porridge (in whatever shape and form you can get it).

That is not to say I ate a bowl of porridge before every walk or only walked in the mornings (far from it) – a flapjack bar just before a walk was just as effective (and far more portable).

Apart from that, water and chocolate (and bananas) are also your friend, making good top-up options before setting out. Glucose sweets were helpful partners along the way, too.

The Weather

The weather continues to be a hugely important factor for me when it comes to walking. First and foremost, it determines if and when I walk, or not (I generally choose to avoid walking when it’s rainy as it’s simply not as enjoyable).

Secondly, and more importantly than I ever realised, the variety in the weather has a huge impact on the enjoyment I get from walking – this is my personal version of wellbeing. The combination of sunshine, warmth, starry nights, full moons, crisp cold, high and low tides, still provides so many unique moments to remember fondly, for all sorts of different reasons.

I continue to use RTE Weather to track the weather and it continues to be highly accurate for me.

Entertainment

Audio entertainment continues to be an essential part of my walking routines, with the following podcasts (listed in order of frequency/popularity) featuring heavily during 2024:

Regulars

  • The Rest is Football (with Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards)
  • The 2 Johnnies – probably still my favourite
  • Sky Sports Football (including The Gary Neville Podcast)
  • Sky Sports F1
  • RTE Documentary on One

New in 2024

  • A Short History Of – great bite-sized stories about historical figures or events.
  • Parenting Hell with Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe – the joy and pain of parenting!
  • Anything Goes with James English – gripping (but long) interviews with interesting people.

I think I listened to less music in 2024 (presumably due to newly discovered podcasts) but did manage to circle back around some genres and artists, including Daft Punk, David Bowie, Elton John, The Pogues, Billy Joel, Def Leppard and the Wolfe Tones.

My First Half Marathon

Another personal milestone that occurred in 2024 was the completion of my very first (walking) half marathon, which I did as part of the Viking Marathon event in Waterford on 23 June 2024. I took some time to experiment with various food items (rediscovering the magical powers of porridge) and the distances each one could support beforehand, which really paid off.

While I did not have a particular time goal in mind, I managed to complete the half marathon in a somewhat surprising 3 hours, 12 minutes. With just over 21km walked, this equates to a pace of 6.8km per hour – far beyond anything I’d normally manage over much shorter distances!

By The Numbers

For some of the other data nerds among you, here are some other statistics from my year of walking. I gleaned some from Strava but also some from a homegrown spreadsheet of my own:

  • Totals
    • Total Distance Walked: 1,941km
    • Total Time Walking: 360 hours
    • Total Number of Walks: 370
    • Number of Days Walked / Missed: 305 (83%) / 51 (17%)
  • Longest
    • Longest Distance Walked in a Day: 25.7km (September)
    • Longest Distance Walked in a Week: 63.4km (September)
    • Longest Distance Walked in a Month: 177.5km (December)
    • Longest Distance Walked in 7 consecutive days: 69.2km (September)
    • Longest Walking Streak: 60 days (July – September)
  • Averages
    • Average Distance Per Day: 5.30km
    • Average Distance Per Week: 37.6km
    • Average Distance Per Month: 162.6km

Most of the longest items recorded were in September due to the entertainment of high volumes of work colleagues visiting Ireland, which made a large dent in my buffer which I decided to make up for in the final days and week of that month.

I was also very pleased to be joined by my son, Bobby, on the final few walks of the year (who was testing out his own new fitness tracker)!

Next Steps (pun intended)

A number of people have already asked if I plan to keep walking in 2025, and I definitely do.

Having successfully walked a half marathon in 2024 (in a time of 3.25 hours), I am now considering a walking/running version of a full marathon later in 2025 (circa June). I’d be happy to walk the full marathon but, due to road closure logistics that provide just 6 hours to complete it, my walking pace (as fast as it is) would not get me around in time, so a walk/run option is on the cards. 

I will need to conduct some proper trials in early 2025, however, to see if my knees will be up to it.

Final Reflections, in a Word (Cloud)

As I mentioned earlier, I chose to continue entering brief descriptions of each walk into Strava in 2024, partly so that I could produce visual summaries of my activities over time, such as this one.

The Word Cloud above was generated from the descriptions of 370 activities and summarises the most prominent elements of all 366 days of walking in 2024.

Until next time…

You’ll Never Walk Alone!

Walking a Half Marathon For Charity

As some of you may know, I have been walking an average of 5km per day for almost 2.5 years (sharing my reflections from 2022 and 2023 as I go), where I revel at the splendour of the scenery that often greets me (while admitting it doesn’t look like this every day).

I am now attempting to quadruple this distance in a single day by walking a Half Marathon on Sunday, 23 June 2024 (as part of the Waterford Viking Marathon event). I’ve actually had a long-running life goal (pardon the pun) to complete a marathon, so maybe this is the start of achieving that goal at some future point.

Linked to this, I am hoping to raise some money for the Children’s Health Foundation in Crumlin, Ireland (formerly known as the Children’s Medical Research Foundation, part of Crumlin Children’s Hospital). All funds raised here will go directly to this great cause and those who know me will understand why this charity is close to my heart, and that of my extended family.

If you’d like to donate, you can do so via my iDonate page, and I’ll be humbled and grateful in equal measures. You are welcome to share this link for others to consider also.

Many thanks in advance for your support!