I want to be a little more like Charles Dickens.

Welcome to Walking is Fitness.

This is a podcast of action providing a little extra motivation to help you keep that fitness promise you made yourself.

And really, isn't that the hardest part of fitness?

Hi, I'm Dave. I've been walking for fitness since 2013, averaging about 21,000 steps a day.

I am walking right now and would love to have you join me for the next 10 minutes.

Charles Dickens, the 19th century author, lived in London, well known for great expectations, tale of two cities, Oliver Twist, the Pickwick Papers, probably his best known work, is a Christmas Carol.

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge, who's visited by the ghost of Christmas past, the

ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future. Charles Dickens loved to walk.

Probably is a bit of a stretch to say he was as well known for his walking as his writing.

While he was alive, certainly in his community, the folks around there knew how much Charles Dickens loved to walk.

It is said that he would walk 12 miles a day in two and a half hours.

So that would be about 24,000 steps at a pace close to five miles an hour.

I mean, that's almost running.

Dickens himself said that he probably walked at four miles an hour.

So he was moving along at a pretty good clip.

He also would walk quite a bit at night.

I don't know if it's because he had trouble sleeping or that was just his normal

schedule, but he was known for his nocturnal walking around London. And considering how effective

walking is at helping us think better and be more creative,

got to wonder how many of Charles Dickens' stories, novels, books, the plot lines,

the fleshing out of the characters, maybe even the character's names,

...