Over at MyHeartNow.Com, you are rewarded with a free pedometer if you take the time to answer a short survey at their site.Compare this to the ones at Walmart for $15.00 or more. The offer is good through the end of this month - the pedometers are provided by Pfizer.
And, about that walking you're going to be doing: while the pedometer will guessestimate your steps/mile, you should know that one mile is the same as 5280 feet. While everyone's stride is unique, unless you're Tim Duncan or Bindi Erwin your stride is going to cover about 2.5 feet, or 2112 steps. (My pedometer is right around this: one mile is shown at 2102 steps.)
For lots more info on walking, check out thewalkingsite.com, aarp.org, and walkinginfo.org.
Finally, this post would not be complete without including a jump to Thoreau's essay -- Walking, which is such a treasure. Many things to ponder there while you're taking step after step:
"But the walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the sick take medicine at stated hours — as the swinging of dumb-bells or chairs; but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day. If you would get exercise go in search of the springs of life. Think of a man’s swinging dumb-bells for his health, when those springs are bubbling up in far off pastures unsought by him. Moreover, you must walk like a camel which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking. When a traveller asked Wordsworth’s servant to show him her master’s study, she answered 'Here is his library, but his study is out of doors.'"
