5K²

I went for a bike ride this morning.

There’s nothing special about that. I didn’t go very far or take on any extreme climb. I just went out from home, cycled 15 kilometres and came home to potter in the garden until lunchtime.

So, why write about it and tell other people?

Well, because the point that I want to make is about consistency, about getting out there and just doing something on the ordinary days. I like to call these days the bread-and-butter days.

They’re the opposite of five-course-meal days. They’re the really special ones. The type of day that I live for. Running a marathon up an alpine mountain, cycling 100 miles, walking a twelve-hour day on some high Scottish mountains or skiing in the Italian Dolomites.

The thing is, there are far more bread-and-butter days than there are five-course meal days. But, it’s the bread-and-butter days that protect my health, maintain a decent base level of fitness and ensure that every day has at least a few minutes of escape into the great outdoors.

Actually, there was something special about this morning’s ride. It was special because it had a significant number attached to it. Let me explain.

Today is day number 4,900 of my unbroken exercise streak to make an ‘at least’ five-kilometre active journey every single day, on even the most ordinary of bread-and-butter days.

The reason for writing about day number 4,900 is because it is now 100 days until I reach day number 5,000. Given that the number linked to my challenge is five kilometres, or 5,000 metres, then there will be a special significance of reaching 5,000 days.

To save you doing the maths, I’m on target to reach that big round number on Tuesday 1st December. When I started this exercise streak on 25th March 2013, I could not have envisaged the relevance of the date that I would be aiming for over thirteen-and-a-half years later.

To reach this target on a Tuesday is appropriate, because it’s relatively easy to get out on a weekend if you work Monday to Friday, but getting out on a Tuesday, well that can require a bit more determination to fit in a walk, a run or a bike ride alongside all your other daily chores and commitments.

Then 1st December, the first day of meteorological winter. Again, it’s easier to get out in summer when the evenings are light and the weather usually a bit more inviting, but getting out in winter, probably in the dark, probably in the wind and rain, that again takes a bit more determination.

Midweek days in winter tend to have bread-and-butter written all over them. They require a bit more motivation to get you out of the door and doing some form of exercise.

Also, December can be a month of procrastination in which people have a new exercise routine in mind for a new year’s resolution, but they might spend December thinking about it, rather than starting it early and getting the habit ingrained before the reality of January hits hard within the first few days.

So, I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking about how I might mark the occasion of my day 5,000 and a plan is starting to form. Here’s the mathematical formula I’ve come up with:

5,000 days X 5,000 metres = 5K²

Welcome to the launch of 5K².

Given that my exercise streak is a long-term, ongoing challenge, my new 5K² challenge is to get at least 5,000 people to join me in making an at least five-kilometre active journey on 1st December and raise at least £5,000 for charity.

You will notice that I like the phrase ‘at least’.

Anyway, I hope to have news about the charity element in the next few days. I don’t want to make the charity donation a strict part of taking part in 5K² but for anyone that wants to chip in at least a pound, then I will have a Just Giving page well in advance of 1st December.

So, start getting your bike lights, headtorches, reflective vests and other winter kit ready and enter 5K² in your diary. Also, please tell other people about it and help me swell the numbers.

My first passion in life is getting outdoors, and my other passion is sharing that passion. My teaching and mentoring are about helping people take a level of sustainable exercise that is appropriate to them. So, if I motivate at least 5,000 people to get outdoors for some healthy, physical exercise on 1st December, then I will get a warm winter glow from being the inspiration to get so many people moving. And don’t worry if you can’t manage to make an active journey of five kilometres. It’s the getting out and doing more than you would have done that counts.

Whether you have a bread-and-butter day or a five-course-meal day in exercise terms, I hope you manage to do something to help me celebrate 5K² and work up your own healthy appetite.