As part of Pacer’s UNHCR: Step With Refugees Challenge, we challenged Pacers to walk 102km in November and December 2019. What does that 102km really look like in distance, steps, and calories burned? Even if you didn’t join the challenge, 102km is still an amazing goal that you can try for any month that you choose. Here’s a breakdown on how far you’ll go, how many steps you’ll take, and how many calories you’ll burn while helping to raise awareness of UNHCR and the work it does to help refugees around the world.
For more information on UNHCR:
- More information about UNHCR and their “2 Billion Kilometers to Safety
- Join Pacer’s UNHCR: Step With Refugees Challenge
- Get Pacer Challenge Info, or read about Alin and Eva who were helped by UNHCR
If you haven’t downloaded the Pacer app yet, download Pacer for free (on mobile)!
102km in Steps
Your steps per kilometer (or steps per mile) vary based on your step length as well as how fast you’re walking. Height is a pretty good proxy for step length, though it’s not exact (some people have longer legs for their height). Here are some estimates of how many steps it would take to walk 102km based on estimated height.
- 4’10″ – 164,851 steps/102km
- 5’0″ – 159,337 steps/102km
- 5’2″ – 154,252 steps/102km
- 5’4″ – 149,433 steps/102km
- 5’6″ – 144,932 steps/102km
- 5’8″ – 140,621 steps/102km
- 5’10” – 136,627 steps/102km
- 6’0″ – 132,823 steps/102km
The faster you walk, the fewer steps you get per km (or mile) as your steps cover more distance. As you may have noticed, taller people have fewer steps per km because their longer legs take them further during each step.
102km in Calories Burned
How many calories you’d burn by walking 102km requires a few assumptions. We’ll assume you’re walking at an average speed of 4.8km/h (3mph), and use calories burned per hour as our metric. At 4.8km/h (3mph), it would take you 21.25 hours to walk 102km. Here are some rough estimates of the number of calories you might burn walking 102km.
- At 130 pounds (59kg) – 102km in 21.25 hours burns about 4,144 calories
- At 155 pounds (70kg) – 102km in 21.25 hours burns about 4,930 calories
- At 180 pounds (82kg) – 102km in 21.25 hours burns about 5,738 calories
- At 205 pounds (93kg) – 102km in 21.25 hours burns about 6,949 calories
102 km (63.4 miles) in Real World Distance
Just how far, in practical terms, is 102km? Here are a few comparisons:
Marathons (42.2 km or 26.2 miles)
102km is about 2.5 marathons (2.4 to be exact). Of course, Pacer’s Step With Refugees Challenge gives you 30 days to hit that distance.
The world record marathon time is 2 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds (Eliud Kipchoge in 2018). At that pace, he’d complete 2.4 marathons in 5 hours, 5 minutes and 23 seconds.
London to Cambridge
Driving distance from London to Cambridge is almost exactly 102km (101.71km)! Driving at an average speed of 80km/h (50mph), it would take you about 1 hour and 16 minutes to make the drive.
New York to Philadelphia
New York is about 130km (81 miles) from Philadelphia. 102km would get you about 3/4 of the way there (78% to be exact). Driving distance is actually around 150km (94 miles), so our 102km would take you about 2/3 of the way there.
San Jose to San Francisco
San Jose is about 80km (50 miles) depending on the start/endpoints and the route. You could walk that distance and still only get about 3/4 of the way towards your 102km goal.
Final Thoughts
These are just a few quick ways to think about the 102km you’d walk to complete Pacer’s UNHCR: Step With Refugees Challenge. The challenge lasted 30 days, but you’re free to take as much time as you need to walk that distance without pushing yourself too hard.
However far you go, we hope that you’ll help us raise awareness of UNHCR and their mission to help displaced people throughout the world.
Get Pacer
If you haven’t downloaded the Pacer app yet, download Pacer for free (on mobile)! You can also check out our website (mobile or desktop) or follow our blog for more great walking and healthy lifestyle tips.
About UNHCR
The UNHCR is the United Nations refugee agency. Since 1950, UNHCR has provided assistance to refugees, internally-displaced people and others forced to flee where they live. The help provided by UNHCR allows these displaced people to rebuild their lives and provide for their families. UNHCR employs over 16,000 people and works in over 130 countries worldwide. It also gathers data on displaced people to determine how many people need help, what help they need and how best to help these vulnerable people.
About Step With Refugees
Every year, refugees travel a collective 2 billion miles (roughly 1 billion miles) from their homes to reach the nearest place of safety. While 80% of refugees live in countries neighboring their countries of origin, their journies are often long, dangerous and difficult. Their journeys, often mostly on foot, take them through jungles, deserts, and hills – often while assisting or carrying young children or older relatives.
Step With Refugees – 2 Billion Kilometers to Safety is an effort to encourage people to walk a collective 2 billion kilometers in support of these refugees. This campaign helps to raise awareness about the sheer scale of displacement worldwide, as well as bring important facts (like the fact that most refugees stay close to home, and only 1% are ever resettled to third countries).
For more information on 2 Billion Kilometers to Safety, click this link.
I appreciate this article, but would really like to know why the calculations for calories begin at 130 lbs for women. I think calculations need to be inclusive. 100 lbs, or even 90 would be better. The steps-per-height is amazing, but again, the truly petite are excluded. 4’10 would be a great starting point, I know several women who are under 5 ‘ tall on this app.
Just a petite woman’s opinion.
Thanks for the feedback! The original article had a wider range of sizes but we picked a few for this one. I’ll update with a few extra number estimates.
I do read your emails I m Physio and I apply healthy techniques on my patients
We’re glad to hear that you read the emails, and we hope your patients are doing great!