I learned this the hard way once, a number of years ago when we took the kids to Disney World. After spending the first day walking, I had to soak my legs in an ice bath because my calves were so sore. Since then I swore I would keep myself in reasonable walking shape.
As I’ve mentioned before, people walk a lot in
Not only do people here walk a lot, they also walk fast. When my daughter was here for a visit, we noticed a woman in front of us on the sidewalk who was pulling away from us. She had at least 20 years on me. We tried to walk faster but still couldn’t keep up. My daughter blamed it on her open-back shoes until we noticed the woman’s shoes were similar.
I think that when you’re walking a couple km or more, you don’t always have time to go at a leisurely pace.
Without really thinking about it, I’ve been walking faster too. When everyone around you is walking fast, you naturally follow along. When my wife came to visit, she asked, “Why are you walking so fast?”
And then when I came home to visit, while shopping in the grocery store she said, “You’re doing that fast walking thing again.” I had started pushing the cart and quickly left her behind.
But I’m still not the fastest person on the sidewalk. I’ve been passed by elderly women carrying groceries. The other night a guy walked briskly by me, lighting a cigarette as he passed – and I was in a bit of a hurry.
There is something satisfying about transporting yourself under your own power, and walking is about as basic as you can get. The best thing about walking is walking to buy food or go out to eat. I always feel justified in getting just that little bit more.
6 comments:
Hi Brian,
interesting observation! There are several studies concerning walking speed in different German cities and they showed that the speeds are very different. I can't remember the detailed results, but Düsseldorf wasn't the front-runner...
Stefan
Stefan ... it would be interesting to see the results of those studies. I can't imagine walking even faster.
I searched using Google but didn't find anything. But I'm not what combination of words would be best. I searched various combinations of spazieren, Geschwindigkeit, Studie, Städte with no luck.
I've been walking every day for about a couple of months. I try to walk fast, but, I'm sure it is nothing like what you described. I really enjoy the walking and I miss it when the weather is bad. I try walking at the mall but its not the same.
Mom
Brian,
here's what I found (German links):
Wir sind süchtig nach Geschwindigkeit
Wir leben, wie wir laufen
I love walking and cycling as modes of transport. I've been commuting to work by bike since May and it's nothing short of fantastic. I don't have a long drive to work, but I'd estimate that I've saved about $1,000 over the past 6 months.
I've only filled my gas tank once since the beginning of October.
I live about 1-1/4 miles from a few restaurants, shops and other stuff in Highland Square. Sharon and I walk over there quite often for dinner, movies, etc. Most of the time, we'll go for a walk after dinner when we eat at home.
And even though I train quite frequently on the bike (even in the off-season), I still go out for a 30-minute walk during lunchtime at work.
Other people just don't know what they're missing.
Oh, and being tall, I always seem to walk faster than everyone else. I need to come to Germany to test myself ;-).
Today it was cold and rainy, and too dark to ride. So I went out for a run ... ran to the bakery, taking the long way, then ran home with my loaf of bread. I'm sure that looked comical. About 35 min. total. Then I ate almost the whole loaf of bread. D'OH!
Stefan ... interesting links. From the fastest to the slowest, I figure that is 400m over an hour. Pretty significant. Also the article about the 'pace of living' in different countries. I would have thought things moved more slowly here before I came. But I don't think so now. There seems to be a lot of rushing around, at least in this area.
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