According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, the average person takes about 5,000 steps per day. Many strive for 10,000 steps, and some particularly active people can average up to 20,000 steps. These numbers were just not enough for juniors Mia Oren and Kate McBride, who on Friday, Oct. 23, walked 100,000 steps in a day. I interviewed Oren to figure out just how and why she took on this crazy challenge.
Last year, Oren and I ran the Millinocket Half Marathon together, so I know she is a generally athletic person who is always willing to take on a new challenge. However, this was a particularly extreme undertaking. What’s even more crazy is why she did it: “I had seen people doing it online and I was, like, ‘That’s a ridiculous amount of steps’… I wondered if it’s possible for me to do it?”
Oren knew she couldn’t accomplish the task alone, so she reached out to her “just as crazy” friend McBride. Oren texted McBride, hoping that it would be an immediate no. However, “Kate was so here for it, so I was like, ‘Darn, now we have to do this.’” Oren set the date for that Friday and eagerly started planning. By their estimates, they would need to walk about 50 miles, and it would take about 15 hours. They needed somewhere safe to walk in the very early morning, but the Athletic Center does not open until 6 a.m., “which is sufficiently early for 99.9% of people, but….”
They didn’t give up that easily. Oren emailed Mark Roy, the assistant athletic director, thinking it would be a no, but he excitedly emailed back, granting Oren and McBride 2:45 a.m. access to the Athletic Center.
So it was all planned. Oren was going to wake up at 2:30 a.m. and begin her walk at 3, with McBride joining her about an hour later. They would intersperse some running in the day, and, when it got light, walk downtown for a change of scenery. McBride had an exam that morning, but she would be able to catch up to Oren’s step counts by running, and Oren needed to start before her. “I needed to just keep walking, no matter what.”
Then came the big day. “I started at 3 a.m. on the treadmill. I made a whole Google Doc of my plan and benchmarks. The goal was 35,000 steps before breakfast at 7:30 a.m., so I would have to walk about 3 miles each hour on the treadmill from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m.. These first four hours, nothing felt real. I was watching Good Mythical Morning, eating Chex cereal, and laughing at myself for how ridiculous this was. Kate joined at 4:20 a.m. and began teaching me neuroscience to prepare for her exam.”
“It was just silly, we had lots of energy, watching the sunrise from the Athletic Center windows, we knew it was going to be a great day.” She decided their first run of the day would be through the Arboretum as the sun rose. “We ran in the Arb, ate breakfast after that, then continued walking in the field house.”
McBride took her exam at 10 a.m., then she went on a run to catch up to Oren. They then began the walk “of doom and despair.” They walked from campus to Selah Tea downtown, then across the Two Cent Bridge into Winslow, where they found a NASCAR memorabilia store to walk around. They crossed the bridge back into Waterville and went to an antique store across from Sunrise Bagels. They returned to Selah Tea to gather their things, then headed to Uncle Dean’s Natural Market. Behind Uncle Dean’s, there is a large graveyard, around 32 acres, that the two walked around for about half an hour. They then walked back to campus to get something to eat.
Oren went into this day knowing that she would need to eat about 5,000 calories. One of the main ways she fueled was through honey: “I ate probably like two billion bees’ worth of honey; it was something special. I can still taste honey in my mouth.”
Anyway, after stopping at the Spa after their downtown walk, the two went to lie down. “Thus commenced World War 3: Mia’s brain vs. Mia’s legs vs. Mia’s stomach.” The thought of getting up was so sickening that Oren debated if this was something that was at all possible. It was around 4 p.m., and she had about 70,000 steps down.
Eventually, Oren was able to get back up and drag herself to the Athletic Center. They walked on the treadmill until the sun began to set. Oren and McBride have a ritual, their “Cat Run,” wherein they run an 2.5-ish mile loop that includes a house where the family lets the cats roam about outside. Unfortunately, the cats were not out on Friday, “but the sunset was gorgeous.”
After the Cat Run, the two separated again so McBride could go to her surf meeting. “I ate some pho, and this was point two in which I wasn’t sure if I could get up again. Kate texted me that if I fell asleep she would come and break down my door and drag me to the Athletic Center.” So the two returned to the treadmills and just “got. it. done.” They wanted to finish in the Spa so they were close to their dorms and needed the least amount of steps to get food and then go to bed.
“We finished outside of Spa at 11 p.m. and we were literally jumping for joy. It was really cute. Then I got these really salty french fries, walked back to my dorm, and passed out. That was that.”
After such a crazy day, you would expect Oren to take a break from crazy athletic feats for maybe a little bit. But, nope! “I am planning on doing it again — I have some more friends that want to do it with me. But next on my list is an ultramarathon. [Kate and I] want to do a backyard ultra.”
~ Meredith McKeever `29
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