The simplest of pedometers counts your steps.  That’s all well and good, but how far did you travel?  To find that out you need to know your stride length.

Finding your stide length - Measure out a pre-determined distance on the pavement.  20-30 feet is a good distance.  Walk the distance in your normal gait.  Don’t try to stretch out your stride farther.  Your’re only cheating yourself.  Count the number of steps it takes to cover that pre-determined distance and divide the steps into the distance.  This is your stride length.  Now to find out how far you’ve walked, multiply your stride length by the number of steps you’ve taken that day and then divide that by 5280.  You now have the distance you’ve walked in miles. 

(Example: My stride length is 2.75ft. If I walk 10,000 steps in one day that’s 27500 ft.  Divided by 5280 is 5.2 miles.  I’ve walked over 5 miles.)