I broke 4 miles on the elliptical yesterday. Four miles in 49 minutes. It felt amazing.

Today, I wore heels during the day for the first time in more than 5 years. I had the additional delight of discovering that a pair of pants I bought and only barely fit a little more than 3 weeks ago, can now be raised and lowered without unbuttoning or unzipping them.

I’m currently playing in 4 DietBets (3 Kickstarters and a Transformer). I’m happy to say I’ve already won 2 of the Kickstarters with more than a week left to play, and same for round 1 of the Transformer — they all end around the same time. The 3rd Kickstarter just started yesterday, so I’m only beginning that one, but I believe I’ll crush it.

All of this evidence of progress and little triumphs have been affirming, encouraging, and rewarding. However, when I turn my attention to life beyond 75 Hard, I feel a little concern about what could happen in the absence of a next Thing. With my recent half marathon thoughts and goal of hitting 5 elliptical miles in under an hour by the end of 75 Hard, I’ve realized it may even be tricky to stay engaged as 75 Hard and its twice daily workouts drag on and threaten to become dull and monotonous. I’ll need to find ways to keep things interesting and challenging in the right ways that force me to stay on track with stretch targets. And thus Steptember was born.

Of course, priority #1 is getting through this full month of 75 Hard and not missing any part of the checklist. That feels pretty set. But I also want to work towards my goal of (safely) running 5 elliptical miles in one go and increasing my normal walking speed to around 3.2 mph, which I’m respectively working on with the help of the elliptical and the treadmill. I’m also going to start incorporating upper body strength training this month focusing on core and arms exercises.

I haven’t finalized my formal plan for this yet, but it felt important to add new steps — as I’m getting in my daily literal steps — to my process right now. Without being smart about building up to new phases, I know I will set myself up for boredom-induced failure

Let’s go, Steptember!