I love walking. I will almost always choose to walk somewhere over taking the bus/subway/car if I can. I just love it. I have always loved going for walks in the places I live. I used to take such amazing walks in Berkeley. I remember in June 2004 when I was taking a summer course and a lot of my friends had gone away for the summer I used to take long long walks by myself high up into the Berkeley hills. It was really really pleasant. I read somewhere recently that you should try to take 10,000 steps a day - the article even said to get a pedometer so you could keep track. I had no idea how far 10,000 steps is so I just googled it and it said that 2,000 steps is about one mile. So I need to walk about 5 miles a day (I wish it were in kilometres! I am bad at transferring between miles/kilometres and celsius/fahrenheit!) a day. When I was in law school, I definitely met that target because the walk between the school and my apt was fairly far. But I'll need to work harder to meet it in the future.
I also read somewhere that children who walk to school (I can't remember if the article gave a distance) do better in school (who knows if this is true...) than children driven in a car because they have a chance to be outside and to start their day being active. I know that I loved walking to school be it at Berkeley or McGill just because it was nice to have time every day to listen to a podcast, to be exercising, to be outside, to clear my thoughts, think, reflect, etc. Walking is a great way to start your day! That said, in high school my mom drove me every day, and I did just fine. So I don't think there is necessarily a correlation between walking to school and doing well. The new apt D. and I will be living in when I start my new job is a 5 minute walk from where I'll be working. At first this seemed like a downside to me because I love walking so much and it's an easy way to get some exercise in. But then my mom reminded me that it's not ideal to show up at work sweaty, which is how I would often show up at McGill :) This just means I am going to have to go for long walks either before or after work (or both). I am also thinking seriously about getting a dog sometime soon. One of the main reasons I'd love to have a dog is that I would love to go for walks with her. I visited some family friends in Florida once who have the most lovely golden retriever named Skyy (named after the vodka). They lived about a 10 minute drive from the beach and R. would take Skyy for long beach walks every morning. He said it was great for him because it got him to exercise and Skyy loved it. Although funnily enough since she is born and bred in Florida (although she was from Tampa which isn't right on the open ocean or gulf) she didn't like going into the ocean. But yes I'd love to have a dog with whom I could go for long walks.
My favourite way to explore cites (new ones or ones I know already) is by foot. Taking the subway in new cities can be interesting but walking is, for me, always a better experience. I love seeing different neighbourhoods, different shops, etc. all by foot. I get the chance to hear more, see more, and feel like I am a part of whatever city it is I am in. Walking on beaches is another thing I love to do whenever I have the chance. Walking right next to a body of water is very pleasant.
I am glad more people are taking walking as exercise seriously. When I taught English at Air France I remember with one group I had the students talking about what exercise/sports they liked to do. One of the students (this really nice woman who had an Italian boyfriend she was about to go on a holiday to Sicily with! I remember this so clearly because I have wanted to go to Sicily since I was told blood oranges grow there) asked me what exercise I did. When I told her I walked she laughed and pressed me to tell her what other "real" sports I did/liked. So while I did try to defend walking as a form of exercise, I also quickly said swimming just so she would be satisfied. But yeah, walking is exercise! And it's cool that more people are starting to notice that. I don't want to get all my exercise from walking but it is a form of exercise, and one that most people can participate in!
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