London:
A 70-year-old man born in Punjab and established in Ireland for 0 years has applied for the Guinness World Record for covering the Earth’s movement at a distance of more than 40,075 kilometers or the equivalent of the Earth’s circumference. 1,500 days without leaving his hometown of Limerick.
Vinod Bajaj started his journey in Gust 2016 with the humble goal of losing a little weight and getting a fitter.
When he unloaded the kilograms his walking enthusiasm only multiplied and he charged on various routes including indoor malls to overcome the weather barriers.
During the first three months of my seven-day-a-week walk, I lost 8kg of weight per day due to a 70,000-calorie reduction. Over the next six months I lost another 12 kg. The weight loss was almost entirely due to walking and I didn’t need to change many of my eating habits, ”Mr Bajaj said.
Typically, I started walking early in the morning and mostly completed in two intervals, first it was always for a longer period. There were times when I did the whole walk in one attempt. “I was able to finish from early to noon, which gave me plenty of time to do things like shopping, bank work, building and gardening,” he said.
The retired engineer and business consultant grew up in Chennai and moved to Scotland in 1975 for a master’s degree in management from Glasgow before taking up work in the Republic of Ireland 5 years ago, where he lived with his family at Castleroy. Limerick, 36 years old.
It was local Irish and world news that kept him in company during his long walk, which came within a 10-kilometer radius of Castleroy.
He also downloaded the pacer activity tracker app on the smartphone to keep a complete track of his steps and his records marked his main targets along the way.
By the end of the first year, I had covered 7,600 km. Walked and I was surprised that in fact I moved from Ireland to India. I continued to walk and by the end of the second year, I had accumulated a total of 15,200 km of footsteps and I found that in fact I was walking more than the circumference of the moon (10,921 km). It inspires me more and I decided to walk on the circumference of Mars (21,344 km), he recalls.
The difference between the Mars Walk and the Earth Walk was about 19,000 km and I knew it would not be easy. I continued to walk with the goal of completing my ultimate goal, he says, in terms of his Earth Walk, which he completed on September 21st.
His application with Guinness World Records is currently under process as he evaluates whether his move covers the equivalent of the Earth’s circumference in 1,496 days and 54,633,135 steps.
In the meantime, COVID-19 continues its WKKing mission despite the downfall obstacles, which only means that it will have to repeat its routes a few times a day to meet its daily walking goal.
It also replenishes itself with nuts, cashews, walnuts and bananas to keep energy levels level during the walk.
My wife and siblings were not initially impressed because they all felt that I was going too far and my health would be affected. Eventually they reluctantly came around and now hopefully I will slow down my move and not try another Earth or Earth counterclockwise.
While they await a response to their potential world record, Mr. Bajaj is keen to spread the message that walking is the best form of exercise for all ages “better than running or jogging and it’s free”.
After running an average of three pairs of shoes each year during the Earth War, their central advice is to invest in a good pair of walking shoes and socks.
His other advice for fellow workers: Loneliness will be the biggest walking challenge and listening to music or podcasts can be partially overcome. Make the umbrella your best friend so that no weather interferes with your walking plan and self-motivation, discipline, consistency and time management are key.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and has been published from Syndicate Feed.)
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