Student sets personal goal to walk 300,000 steps throughout September

A Social Sciences student has set herself the goal of walking 300,000 steps throughout the month of September – finishing with a total of 345,799 steps!

4th year Social Sciences student Aileen Hunter decided to set herself the challenge after discovering her love of Scotland’s landscapes. Aiming to get 10,000 steps a day, Aileen didn’t find this realistic and decided to set herself the difficult goal of achieving 300,000 steps in one month.

Aileen’s interest in walking more started during the lockdown period. She said: “I was always saying to myself that I wanted to get the recommended 10,000 steps a day but I found I was never getting anywhere near it.

During lockdown, I found there were days upon days where I never left the house and felt I needed something to get me out. I recently became slightly obsessed with how beautiful Scotland’s landscape is and really wanted to climb hills and Munros, but with being an asthmatic it really wasn’t possible to just jump in and start!”

She added: “I set myself the target of 300,000 for the thirty days of September. Some days it can be difficult to get the 10,000 with the Scottish weather and other commitments. I decided to set myself the challenge for the whole month and it seemed to take away the daily pressure. I have found it very beneficial.

Sometimes I walk alone, with friends or with family and this means I get time to myself to think and reflect or get to spend quality time with friends and family and still get to feel I am doing something that benefits my health.

I am a total control freak, but when I go out walking alone, I try not to plan where I am going. I just let my feet take me and I feel this is helping me take a more relaxed approach to my life in general.

The last six months or so have been full of craziness and totally out with my control and it has been overwhelming at times. Having the routine of walking and a goal for steps has kept me slightly sane!”

To find out more about how to maintain positive mental health, check out the GCU Wellbeing website

By Rachael McAlonan

Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media