I've changed my mind. Today I'm going to tell a story that I said I wasn't going to tell on this podcast.

Hi, I'm Dave. Welcome to Walking is Fitness. A daily 10-minute podcast designed to provide you with a little added motivation to get out the door, take the walk, and to keep going to build a consistent, I believe,

life-changing habit of walking. Today's 10-minute walk starts right after this.

The snow is completely gone in Myrtle Beach. Yesterday as I was recording the episode. It was starting to rain. It was a light

rain. I knew it was coming. I had an umbrella tucked in my back pocket. Didn't need it. That rain

continued all day. In fact, got heavier. Temperatures were well into the 40s, so the rain,

the temperatures essentially eliminated, got rid of, washed away all the remaining snow here in Myrtle Beach.

Temperatures have fallen back to the freezing level and we had some precipitation early this morning,

which might have even been light snow, but there's nothing laying on the ground.

So a few months ago, in one of the longer episodes to the walking friends community,

I told a story and said that I've never told this story on the 10 minute podcast, this podcast, and never

would. Or probably never would. Either way, my determination was that was a story I was not

going to share on this podcast because there's a potential harm in sharing that story.

I've reconsidered and believed that the possible

benefits outweigh the potential harm. So here goes. In 2013, when I got my first step tracker,

it was something that the radio station, the organization

where I worked, gave to all the employees as a way to promote health and well-being.

And they set up a competition.

Those who got the most steps at the end of each month would get a prize,

a gift card. That part of the story I've told. I wanted to win that competition. I wanted to win

that first month and every month thereafter. So that supercharged my motivation for walking, for movement. In those first few weeks,

talking to other employees who were also engaged in this competition, I heard of a couple

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