Ingress Fitness - Today's Badge: Sojourner's Black

So, after 360 days of going out every day, twice a day, to hack a portal, I finally gained my Soujourner's Black medal. I know, not exciting, right?

I find it exciting, because, now, when I go out, instead of working towards the medal, I can go out for fun. The pressure is off. If I miss a day, it doesn't matter, but I probably won't miss a day, because working towards the Sojourner's medal made me realise a few things:

1. It helped me establish a habit of going for a walk, however short, in both the morning and the evening. This is important for my health, and my fitness, and for clearing my head. I didn't realise that before.
2. I need to maintain my fitness - it's logical, right? But it's so easy to make excuses not to go out. It's too hot. It's too cold. I'm too busy. I've got a lot on my plate. It's raining. I don't feel well. Blah blah bah. Working towards Sojourners made me understand that I can vary the times of day for walking - go early in summer, later in winter, put a rain coat on and stuff my phone into a sandwich bag to protect it while hacking, Take public transport and hack on the way to and from school and work. There's pretty much a solution for every excuse - except the last one. Being sick? That's probably a day to stay in bed, even if you can walk the hundred metres to the nearest portal without falling over. However, 360 days, and I know I feel better for a daily walk.
3. Fitness can be fitted into pretty much any daily routine.
4. By having a purpose, you can walk longer distances. It's better to set a destination and walk to it, and maybe have options for extending the distance if you feel up to, than to head out with just a total time needed for walking in mind. You can use Ingress for this, and either choose a mission to do, or just walk a series of portals, or you can have a real-world goal, walking to the library, getting off a stop earlier or parking further away and walking to work, these all help.
5. Sometimes, you need to choose a stretch of ground that doesn't have a portal for a couple of kilometres - especially as your fitness builds - because longer stretches of walking are better for you than the constant stop-start that often comes with ingressing. This, of course, has the added advantage of adding kilometres to your Trekker's badge... or you can hatch a pokemon egg... or you can just enjoy the scenery - the point is not to stop.

Anyway, practicalities aside - I GOT MY SOJOURNER'S BLACK - and I'm pretty happy with that.