Haley Brown
A Tampa-based lobbyist got his steps in, a whole lot of them, despite the Capitol being closed.
Lobbyist Ron Pierce, CEO of RSA Consulting, committed to walking 556 miles during the 60-day Session. The distance mirrors that of a trip from Tampa to Tallahassee.
Pierce walked to support Southeastern Guide Dogs, a nonprofit that provides service dogs at no cost for visually impaired individuals, veterans and children who suffered a loss of a parent in the military.
Pierce pledged to raise $5,000 for his cause and ended up raising almost double that.
“Thank you to everyone that went online and supported us and supported Southeastern Guide Dogs to make this happen,” Pierce said in a video he posted to Twitter.
Pierce said the journey amounted to 1.1 million steps. He had to walk nine or 10 miles daily to meet his goal.
“Had so much fun doing this. I may take tomorrow off. I may not walk tomorrow after averaging between nine and ten miles a day,” Pierce said.
To stay on pace Pierce walked several times a day. Pierce told Florida Politics in an interview in early April that he frequently completed his daily walking quota by walking on a treadmill while watching committee meetings on the Florida Channel.
Pierce said he and other people in his office are animal lovers and that’s how they selected Southeastern Guide Dogs as the nonprofit to support.
Pierce adopted a dog named Sammi, who has her own Twitter account, not long before he started his journey. Pierce said the short-legged Corgi couldn’t keep up with his pace, but Sammi did walk some of his journey with him.
Pierce said he’ll probably do another walk benefitting a nonprofit next year – but maybe not as far.
