As it turned out though, only Jue Zhu going last turned out to actually matter for that. Bing Hei achieved 65 steps, struggling mightily on the last two, then it was my turn. I knew that with his score, I was likely to shatter my previous score of 42 steps, but even at 45 steps, I only just started to encounter resistance. By the time I matched Bing Hei's score, I was facing stiff resistance, but I was well able to take not just one, but four more steps.
Getting 70 would have been awesome, but I could tell that I was pushing hard enough that I'd fall over before actually succeeding at landing another step forward. Pushing myself had done a lot for me so far, but there wasn't any benefit to faceplanting here. I turned back.
