Martin's disclaimer: Setting a pedometer is really not too hard. People from all 'walks' of life use them successfully, but there are things about the biochemistry of middle-age that can turn simple instructions into a cross between astro-physics and Alice in Wonderland. If you do have a problem calibrating one of our pedometers call Bev. at (250) 721-6997 or toll free at 1-866-721-6940 and she will talk you through it step by step.

Successful Completion of Pedometer 101
Or
What Happens When Two Middle-aged Women Get Together
to Activate Their Pedometers.

What, you may ask, happens when two middle-aged women attempt to set their new pedometers so they can begin their 10,000 steps program? This story will answer that question ~ in the words of Lara Lauzon and Barbara Nylson.

The story starts at the University of Victoria in a Human Wellness class that I (Lara) am teaching and Barbara is taking. Intrigued by Martin's Fall 2002 Issue of Well and Karen Hanford's Pedometer Report we decide to purchase pedometers. That part is easy. A couple of weeks go by - life is busy for the both of us. Neither one of us are using our pedometers. We find out that each of us are somewhat confused with the Pedometer 101 directions found in Martin's newsletter, the Pedometer Personalization Instructions sent to us by Bev from Martin's office and the Pedometer Activation information that comes with the pedometer itself. We laugh. We wonder if it is because we are middle-aged women. Then we wonder if it has something to do with our lack of experience with technology. We decide it might be fun to get together to set up our pedometers. We schedule a Pedometer Activation meeting.

We meet in my office. We read and re-read all of the instructions we have received from all sources. We laugh. We are confused. We are still committed to this task. We are going to succeed. We make a list and gather all of the equipment we need in order to complete our mission. The equipment list includes a long measuring tape, a calculator and a pen and paper. Next we find a long hallway. In the Pedometer Personalization Instructions we discover if we enter the number of steps it takes us to walk 100 feet or more we will have better results. We, of course, want better results.

Step 1: We remove our pedometers from the packaging.
Step 2: We engage the battery by pulling out the plastic tab that protrudes from the pedometer casing.
Step 3: We DO NOT peel off the protective plastic cover from the display screen as advised in the directions. I know ~ it says to do this, but when you have two middle-aged women who are Type A ~ Barbara says she is actually Type Double AA - you have women that want to keep things neat and tidy. We plan on using these pedometers in the Care Homes of our choice in the future. We don't want the plastic cover to get scratched from daily use. This is our first big mistake.

We attempt to set the clock. We press the mode button until the clock feature appears. However, we cannot set the clock properly because we are trying to see through a plastic cover that has numbers on it. We can see the time flashing underneath the protective plastic covering still on top of our pedometers. No, we have still not figured out that we must remove the protective plastic cover from the pedometer to see the actual clock numbers. We still want to believe that we know better. Our pedometers are going to be like new - many years from now ~ that is if we can actually use them for the use they are intended for. We ponder this problem. Barbara has to go and put money in the parking meter. We have been at this now for about 40 minutes. Barbara returns. We decide we should go and call Martin's office. We know Martin is away, but think that Bev could probably help us. We call. Murphy's law. As soon as we start talking with Bev we both realize that the reason there are two sets of numbers on the pedometer is that the protective plastic covering that we were supposed to remove has numbers on it. Oops. We thank Bev. We take off the protective plastic covering. We save it though - we might need to put it back on when the pedometers are not in use. Just in case. We now set the clock. This proves to be much easier without having to peer through a set of numbers located on top of other numbers. We wonder if other people have had the same problem. We laugh ~ a lot.

We then try to set our stride length. We both walk one hundred steps until we find a consistent stride measurement. We mark the spots with masking tape. That part is easy. Next comes the measurement of the distance we have walked, in centimeters. That part is not easy. You see, Barbara and I are not yet comfortable with the metric system. We are confused. We are not sure how many meters we are measuring. Honest- we are both well educated. We laugh, but feel silly. We wonder what the students who are watching us walk up and down the hall, muttering to ourselves, are thinking. Barbara comes up with a great idea. We will turn the measuring tape over and measure the distance in feet and then convert to meters. There is a conversion chart included in the Pedometer 101 directions. Now we are in business. Or so we think. Barbara has to go and put more money in the parking meter.

We measure the distance. We attempt to convert feet into meters, using a calculator borrowed from some students who are working at the equipment desk. The calculator is new. It has too many buttons on it. We can't figure out how to use it. I go and get my calculator from my office where it's stored along side my abacus. Barbara says it is at least 100 years old. It may be old, but at least I know how to use it. We have finally figured out how many meters we have walked in 100 steps. That part was easy. Oh, oh. Now we have to calculate how many centimeters we walked. We have to ask the students working at the equipment desk how to change meters into centimeters. They tell us to multiply by 100. They look at each other with knowing looks. We wonder what they are thinking.

We keep telling each other that we are 'almost there'. We are thankful we are doing this together. We wonder if other people have difficulty activating their pedometers. We think not, but we secretly hope so. We laugh some more. We have been at this for about 1 1/2 hours.

We are ready to set the stride length. We press and hold the set button until centimeters are on the screen of the pedometer and the arrow is pointing to STR (stride). The directions say that the stride length should be flashing '00'. Both our pedometers are flashing '50'. We press the Reset button and hold for 3 seconds to 'clear any function for re-setting'. Nothing happens. We try again. We laugh. We can't believe this is taking so long. We continue to be thankful we are doing this task together. As it turns out, my pedometer takes 4 seconds to clear and Barbara's takes 5. Could it be that these two middle-aged Type A and Type AA women count too quickly. We think so. We laugh. We determine that the stride length should be flashing '50', not '00'. We remind each other to let Bev know. We tell each other that we are 'almost there'.

Next we set our weight measurement. Oh, no. We have to convert our weight in pounds to weight in kilograms. We thank Martin and Bev for including a conversion chart. We manage to do this. We reset the pedometer to 0. We walk for 100 steps. We check our pedometer. We both have too many steps. We laugh. We tell each other we 'are almost there'. Barbara goes out to put more money in the parking meter. We use the adjustment button to 'fine tune for accuracy'. We walk for another 100 steps. We notice more students watching us as we stride down the long hallway, past the gymnasium, past the apparatus room, past the physiotherapy office and past the squash courts. We wonder what they are thinking.

After three attempts at walking for 100 steps, both of us discover our pedometers are recording 103 steps. We don't care. We laugh. We are still confused. We are concerned that if we start over again we might not get this far. I have marking to do. Barbara is running out of change for the parking meter. We tell ourselves that no one will know except us. We promise to walk more than 10,000 steps each day to make up for the difference. We hug. We tell each other we will stay in touch. Barbara heads out to her car. I walk up to my office, my pedometer in place, recording every step.

Postscript from Lara:

Well, it has been just over a month since our big Pedometer Activation Day. The first few days proved to be a challenge. Like Karen Hanford, stepping at home was more successful than stepping at work. If I did not program a run or walk into my day at work, I did not manage to acrue more than 6000 to 7000 steps in one day - and that was counting my steps at home. Stepping at home on the weekend resulted in total steps close to 10,000. I will admit that after a few unsuccessful days of not reaching 10,000 steps, I decided to keep the pedometer running - no re-setting for me. I know, that is cheating, but it sure felt good to see a 10,000 step total. I am well on my way of stepping 10,000 steps a day now. My pedometer has become a friend, not an enemy. I am encouraged to find ways each and every day to step for my health. My son now wants a pedometer too. I am even considering purchasing one for my husband. I figure a family that steps together stays healthy together. Thanks Martin and Bev for introducing me to the 10,000 step program. Now if you could just send the pedometers already activated with my personal stride length programmed - that would be terrific. Happy stepping everyone.