Dear Mrs. Morley,

Here is my activity log for this week (by the way, I think I won first place ):

Monday: I jogged to and back from Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station once in the morning, and also around other parts of town. I also worked. This week, I picked the "Jungle Animals" unit for the kindergarteners which has a song called "I'm Walking in the Jungle." This allowed me to add on a few extra steps that I would not have been able to add on had we done a more sedentary unit in their Kid's Talk book. After work, I jogged down to and back from Kintetsu Yokkaichi again and also around other places in town.

Tuesday: I jogged to Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station 3x (once in the morning, twice in the evening), worked, and also went to various random parts of town.

Wednesday: I jogged to Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station 3x (once in the morning, twice in the evening), worked, and also went to various random parts of town.

Thursday: I jogged to Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station 3x (once in the morning, twice in the evening), worked, and also went to various random parts of town. During the morning portion (I started waking up earlier and earlier to get more steps as I became more desperate to up my step count), I jogged to the Yokkaichi International Center and canceled Friday's Japanese lesson so I could free up approximately two hours to get more steps (don't worry, I'll get the lesson, it'll just be a week later). I also went to the park and did some laps in the morning.

Friday: I jogged to and from Kintetsu Yokkaichi at least a couple of times. I did some laps in the park. I worked and added on some steps at work. After work, I attempted to walk to the store that sells mountain climbing cleats, but couldn't find it. Nevertheless, I ended up with a ton of steps.

Saturday: Don't let my relatively modest step total of 51,068 steps fool you. This day was HARDCORE. I started by going out to Yunoyama Onsen Station on the train. Then I climbed the 1,212 m, snow-covered, wind-swept Gozaisho over the course of over four hours of intense hiking/mountain climbing (yes, even ropes and chains and hiking during a blizzard were involved). This yielded very few steps, but let me tell you, those steps were INTENSE. I arrived at the top and it was -6 degrees Celsius. I took the ropeway down (catching the second-to-last car, I believe -- lucky). When I got home, did I sleep or rest much? NO! Instead, I prepared for my biggest step undertaking yet: Nara. My goal was to forgo sleep that night and just walk, walk, walk (and jog some) for nearly 24 straight hours to get over 100,000 steps on 3/3 and reach Nara City. On Saturday night at around 9:00 PM, I departed from Yokkaichi and entered Kameyama just before midnight.

Sunday: Keep in mind that I define "Sunday" as everything from midnight onward, because I didn't sleep that night. I continued to jog all night, reaching Iga (a city famous for its ninja, no joke) around daybreak. I got seriously lost in Iga and spent many, many hours there before finally getting back on course on Route 163. My intent was to enter Nara. Did I ever enter Nara? I'm not sure. There is a tri-prefectural border between Mie Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, and Nara Prefecture. I got lost in the mountains in that border area and ended up in Kyoto Prefecture (not to be confused with Kyoto City). I know for sure that I was in Kyoto because two old men and one trail sign attested to this, but whether I ever crossed into Nara is debatable. In any case, I came within less than a mile of Nara. I had traveled 63.4 km according to Google Maps (or much, much more if you count the many times I got lost and wandered off the main path). I got lost in the mountains/tea farm/rice paddy area and ended up having to spend the night in a farmer's tool shed with a tarp as my blanket -- NOT a fitting end to a day of 100,084 steps. A most cold and unpleasant night (in case you're wondering how the saga ended, the next day, I came across an old farmer illegally dumping his trash on the mountain, and was able to hitch a ride in his pickup truck into a small town in Kyoto Prefecture).

Sincerely,
Charles Wetzel
(ELI Pedometer Challenge Contestant)