Well, for some very smart people, today is the first day of winter.

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 to yourself.

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

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

It is December 1st and right on cue, the temperature is below normal,

as you can tell. It is windy and I am dealing with a full-on wind chill. Now, if you're in the northern hemisphere, technically, it is still autumn.

Winter doesn't arrive until, what is it, another three weeks or so.

But to the weather scientists of the world, December 1st is the meteorological first day of winter.

And if you're in the southern hemisphere, welcome to summer.

The meteorological first day of summer.

But this episode is for those of us who are experiencing wind chills and frost and all of that fun stuff.

So if you are like me, cold weather is not your favorite. Winter is not my favorite season.

But there's something about this season that I find really appealing.

In 2018, as I was doing my 20K one-year step challenge, that was a commitment I made, a public commitment to walk 20,000 steps every day for an entire

year without missing a day.

And I posted each day a picture with a caption, a picture that I took while I was out walking,

getting my 20,000 steps.

And how many steps I actually achieved that day.

And I did that for a whole year.

And so that challenge forced me outside during winter in ways that I probably wouldn't have

gone out for walks on my own. If it was just, you know, me la-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Gonna go walk for fitness. Oh, it's too cold. Maybe I'll wait till tomorrow. You know,

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