Take a hike!

You have to be of a certain age to remember when Americans had a short-lived fad of going on 50-mile hikes. In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy was pushing physical fitness as a national priority. At school we went through a battery of physical challenges to earn (ha!) a Presidential Fitness Award or some such thing. I don't recall because, needless to say, I never qualified although I think I survived the tests with my ego more badly battered than my body.

In 1963, the initial inspiration behind the hikes came from then President John F. Kennedy challenging his military officers to meet the requirements that Teddy Roosevelt had set for his own military officers at the dawn of the 20th Century. That Roosevelt requirement was for all military officers to be able to cover 50 miles on foot in 20 hours to maintain their commissions. When word got out about the "Kennedy Challenge", non-commissioned military personnel also wanted to take the test themselves as did certain robust members of the civilian population. Hence the idea of taking a 50-mile hike. In the civilian world, it was often a sort of social event as groups tried to do it together.

Sadly after the assassination of President Kennedy, a lot of enthusiasm went out of many of his far-sighted programs and the 50-mile hike fad faded quickly. Well, maybe it wasn't the assassination so much as the fact that it was hard to do. And seriously -- walk for 20 hours? Not likely. Normal folks took it in chunks, hoping to get a total of 50 miles over a weekend or a few days. At least one endurance event based on the challenge still exists, if you want to start training for it.

I mention this today because at approximately 1:15 this afternoon, my Fitibit told me that I had hit 70 miles since starting on Tuesday of last week. It also informed me that this is the distance of the March of the Penguins -- the annual trip Emperor penguins make to their breeding grounds.

And yes, Lee, this does just prove how compulsive I am.