Keeping track of distance

I find it very motivating to keep track of how far I walk. I use a pedometer. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, one of my goals is to walk 10,000 steps, six days a week. Thanks to my pedometer I know that that is between three and four miles. For about half a year my pedometer’s batteries were dead. While I knew the routes that would get me the right mileage, for some reason it just wasn’t as satisfying as seeing the huge step count on the pedometer screen- seeing “11,267 steps” is very encouraging. Just as my preference, I don’t always wear my pedometer- only when I am intentionally walking somewhere for distance.

About.com has some nice information about pedometers:

http://walking.about.com/cs/measure/bb/bybpedometer.htm

I received my pedometer as a present from my husband, so it’s fancier than I would have picked out. One really nice thing about it is that I can put it in a pocket, instead of clipping it on- I really like that. This pedometer also tracks calories expended, miles traveled and will log the data for several days. All of these functions have been useful and/or interesting at one time or another but really I could do with just knowing the steps I have walked (but I am not complaining, really). The point I am trying to make is that you can get simpler pedometers for relatively little money ($8-$10 and probably a lot less, but you want them to be reliable).

Other ways to determine your distance:

Use maps-

hard copy: you know, the traditional map, the FUTS trail maps are very nice

computer maps: such as Google maps (has a walking option) or Map Quest

Drive the route in car and record the distance travelled

Other ideas?