How Many Steps are You Taking at the Fair? A Fitbit Experiment

I have tried in the past to measure how much one walks at the Fair, but until this year I haven't had a good tool to do that. This year, though, I brought a Fitbit before starting the day's walking.

Posted 1:59 p.m. Oct 17, 2012 — Updated 1:59 p.m. Oct 17, 2012

I have tried in the past to measure how much one walks at the Fair, but until this year I haven't had a good tool to do that. This year, though, I brought a Fitbit before starting the day's walking.

Have you heard of Fitbit? It's a pedometer that clips to your pocket or your waistband and tracks things like steps taken, stairs climbed, and activity level. You can upload your statistics onto a Web site and see how your activity compares to other folks. For someone who works at a desk most of the time, having a Fitbit and tracking your steps taken is a great incentive to take that one more lap around the block or park a little further away from the door or try to make another fifteen minutes on the treadmill. You can learn more about the Fitbit at http://www.fitbit.com/.

(Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Fitbit in any way except as a satisfied customer.)

From my regular walking with the Fitbit I know that for me, 1000 steps is about half a mile. (For most people a mile is between 2000-2500 steps.) I really did not have a sense of how many steps I would end up taking at the Fair -- I guessed about 8000 or 9000 steps. (10,000 steps a day appears to be the recommended target to aim for.)

I put the Fitbit on my belt when I got to the Fair and when I got to the car, removed it. My total step count for the time I was at the Fair as 12334 steps -- about six miles. The Fitbit also logged me as walking up two flights of steps -- probably because I ate lunch in the Grandstand and then walked around taking pictures.

On the one hand I feel pretty good for getting a full day's worth of walking in my trip! On the other hand since part of that walking was to do taste tests, I can't feel too good! It certainly didn't feel like 12000+ steps, though.

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