Walk Bike Run

Walking is my first love, when it comes to exercise. I still love it, though it's not enough. I like getting my heart rate up and the total trance that comes from running. Walking is ruminating, thinking. I can listen to a book while walking, but running requires music and rhythm - talking books are too distracting. But I still love walking. 

Potomac River south of Alexandria

Growing up in Ann Arbor, from second grade on, I walked to and from school by myself, just 5-6 blocks. Sometimes with a friend, more often by myself. I would sometimes take detours, a parallel path, a block or two out of my, discovering the joy of discovery. It doesn't take much of a detour - just another street over - to give that little jolt of exploration that I love.

When I was eleven, long distance bike rides became my thing. I don't know how much my mother knew about what I did, but I would head off with a map and be gone for a few hours. I think, now, looking back, I did go at least five miles away, across town and across the river. Always by myself. (This was during my loner period when my joined-at-the-hip sole best friend had moved away, and new friends had not yet replaced even a fraction of our time together.) I know my mother knew I was looking at a map, but I don't remember any resistance or quizzing about the nature of my adventures. As we were in the middle of packing to move to England for a year, readying our house for renters, perhaps she was focused on other things and just glad I was out of her hair. Or, perhaps, she actually knew pretty much what I did and was glad I was out of her hair. Supervision of kids was different then.

But I discovered the joy of long, slow, walks by myself during that year in England. After many arguments about the infrequency of buses after school, the (lack of) need for my older brother to wait and go with me, finally, I was allowed to walk the couple of miles home by myself. I still have images from these walks. Again, I consulted a map, but only at home, not while out walking around. I don't remember from the bike rides or walks ever any fear of being lost.

My bike riding times have mostly coincided with times I was dog-less, or had an elderly dog that wasn't a good walking companion. Sadly, my big oaf of a dog is reaching that point now, again. It's time to take the bike to the shop and get it fixed up to be rideable again.

After my first health crisis - disabling sciatica - I signed up for a LONG walk - the 2-day Avon breast cancer walk. Friends at work were doing it for the cause, tbh I was doing it for the adventure. The event was walking a marathon the first day, sleeping in a tent, and walking a half marathon the following day. I trained, a lot, and did some 20+ mile walks in advance of the event. But if I did that, that was all I did for the weekend. It was too time consuming.

I discovered running only a few years ago - within the time of this blog, in fact. Here is the first post - December of 2011. I bought a treadmill, and started to run inside before venturing outside. But I discovered running outside, and it's so much more efficient that walking. Cover more territory, see more things, get that heart rate up high. So far, my farthest run has been just over six miles. I'm not sure I have ambition to go beyond that, but I sure would like to get back to that.

But I'm recovering from the knee surgery, and walking is by itself difficult. So I'm back to my slow rambles, but I'm finding cool new places to go. Today, dropped my kid off pretty early at the airport, and continued south to Old Town Alexandria. Maybe five years since I've been there? There is an improved path along the waterfront, and new city parks, reaching all the way down to the bridge.  I got about four miles in, very slow, and towards the end, painfully slow. But it reminds me how much I enjoy just walking and looking. No need to shop, no need to eat, but just look and keep moving. I'm looking forward to running more, but walking will be part of things too.