Julie Carstens of the Munroe-Meyer Institute reclaimed the gold Saucony shoe by tallying a record 687,594 steps during the month of March.
Carstens already has visions of spring, noting, “I’ll bet that Gold Shoe looks good with tulips and daffodils!”
A cytogenetic technologist, Carstens’ March step total marks a new record for the Gold Shoe competition.
Her 687,594 steps – the equivalent of nearly 344 miles – buries the previous record of 611,357 steps reported during the month of February by Greg McFadden of the Health Professions Tracking Center.
Jill Daley, an office associate in the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences, logged 409,062 steps in March to take home the silver — shoe, that is. Daley housed the silver footwear earlier this year after walking 238,605 steps during the month of January to capture the coveted award.
Kudos to a few other walkers who checked in along the route:
- Sandy Latshaw of the School of Allied Health Professions — the first Gold Shoe winner — notched 327,700 last month, noting she’ll need to “kick it up a notch” if she wants to reach 5 million steps by mid-May. She already has surpassed 4 million steps.
- Kathy Minikus of the College of Public Health added a healthy 354,060 steps during the month of March to boost her yearlong total of more than 3 million steps.
If 2,000 steps equals one mile, these four women – Carstens, Daley, Latshaw and Minikus — collectively walked 1.8 million steps – or 889 miles — during the month of March.
That’s a lot of savings at the gas pump – not to mention the health impact on the body’s own pump.
So, where do you rank in your monthly steps?
We’re on the home stretch for the Million-Step Challenge, which officially ends May 15. Still, it’s not too late to make a difference – one step at a time.
Those looking to compete for the April Gold Shoe have until Monday, May 5 to send in monthly step totals. April’s winners will be announced on Monday, May 12.
The following is a list of UNMC employees who have recently reached one of the 250,000-step markers in the 1 Million Step Challenge. Send an e-mail to today@unmc.edu with your name, department and tell us what step milestone you reached and we’ll post it on the list.
1.5 million steps
Debb Andersen, pediatric clinical coordinator
2.5 million steps
Keith Mueller, College of Public Health