Here is my call to action. Join me and walk 256 kilometres spread out over 31 days to kick off the new year in an active and really enjoyable way. The idea is explained below or can be listened to in form of a podcast. The article is actually the transcript of the latest episode.

And today you're listening to episode number 45. Yes, number 45 is the last one for 2023 and it's a very short one as I just want to draw your attention to a challenge that's coming up in January. On each and every day in January that is. And I would like to encourage you to participate in your very own way.

So what is this January Walking Challenge all about? Well, it's all about walking. For the people who know me that's probably not really a surprise. I think three years ago - was it thee years ago or four years ago, no I think it was three years ago - I stumbled across a challenge from Sean Conway. Sean is an endurance athlete and adventurer from Great Britain and he has done some really amazing feats in the last ten, twelve, fifteen years or so. For example he swam the length of Britain. Yes, the whole length of Britain. He ran 15 marathons on 15 consecutive days in all 15 national parks of Great Britain. And just recently he completed - I think it was - 105 or full-length 106 triathlons on 105 or 106 consecutive days. Unbelievable!

A couple years ago, he started something which was a January Walking Challenge, I think it was called. Well, in my case walking, in his case jogging. “When you're out you're in” was the motto. And the underlying motivation for this idea was to fall back in love with running again. So in January he started running. January 1st 1 kilometer. January 2nd 2 kilometer. January 3rd 3 kilometer. January 4th 4 kilometer. I think you get the idea. And that meant by the end of the month - so January 31st - he ran 31 kilometer. Over the month of January, I think he clocked up about what 500 kilometer or something along those lines. 496 to be precise. And he encouraged others to just do the very same.

In general I felt really encouraged to join him. But obviously for me running is not an option. And so I thought: I can't do 31 kilometers on a day. I can't do 25. I probably can't even do 20 kilometers a day. At least not all the way through January when I'm working and have to do that in my spare time.

So I thought I join him all the way to the middle of the month. That's January 16th. And then I slowly decrease my daily mileage again so for me that meant January 1st I walked 1 kilometer. January 2nd 2 kilometer. January 3rd 3 kilometer. January 4th 4 and so on all the way until January 16th when I walked 16 kilometer. And then slowly each day 1 kilometer less again.

So by the end of the month I was back at 1 kilometer. and throughout the month of January no matter the weather, no matter my other work, no matter if it was light or dark or it was in the middle of the night I think altogether I walked 250 or 260 kilometers. And it felt great. It was an amazing start into a great year. And so January 1st, 2024 I'm going to start with this challenge again. And I hope I make it through the month. I'm not sure because we're currently building a new socket and I have some problems with my other knee and my other foot. In addition my liner is really giving me trouble at the moment. It's constantly breaking. It's giving me lots of bloody blisters and open sore spots on the stump. But I'm going to try my best. And I'm sure where there's a will there's a way. So somehow I'm going to find a way to make it through that challenge and to complete the challenge.

And I really would like to invite you to join me on that challenge. Either with the same mileage so January 1st 1 kilometer. January 2nd 2. January 3rd 3 and so on. We can then be sharing our experiences on Instagram and other social media platforms, connecting to and encouraging each other.

Or if you say well that's too much for you just give yourself another goal. For example say you just going to walk the same distance each and every day. For example 3 kilometers or 5 kilometers or 4 kilometers or whatever you want to do. Just make sure it's something you do each and every day. And you will see on the one hand yes it takes a bit of discipline and sometimes it takes a gentle kick in the behind, metaphorically speaking. But probably around the 10th or 12th of January, your mind's going to shift and something that looked almost impossible by the beginning of the month is suddenly something you can easily do - even if you start late in the day. And you're going to see you're going to be proud of yourself.

So I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Until then all the best. Enjoy the rest of the month have a lovely Merry Christmas, a peaceful end of the year, and a great start into an even greater 2024.