Walking

Life Health & Fitness
1

So now I walk. I got myself an MP3 and I load it up with a Dead show and I walk.

I find that blocking out the rough around the edges sounds of Taiwan actually numbs the eyes a bit as well. I find little to complain about as I walk.

I walk to relieve stress. I don’t drink, but I used to, and I used to enjoy so pretty damn fine beers and whiskies. But I don’t drink and I have discovered that when I’m walking and jamming and sweating I don’t think about the irritating pull to drink. I’m on my fourth dry month and the high of not drinking has long passed. It’s hard,but when I’m walking, it’s not.

I walk to lose weight, as not drinking and not smoking has led me straight to the refrigerator.

I walk and I think and I’m beginning to feel that I should bring a notepad with me as my creativity seems to spike when I’m out. That’s cool, as I used to write poetry and short stories and it’s nice to know that those brain cells are a) still there and b) still working.

I think that maybe walking is making me a better person as I am not in a rush when I walk, even though I walk pretty fast. My head is relaxed. I notice things that make me smile, like an old man sitting next to his bike at dusk; a great picture; a smile at a jogger who seemed as though we shared some bond. I get to think about work a bit, but not much, about my family whom I love so much, and my friends here in Taiwan and back home. I think about things I’d like to do and people I’d like to help. I don’t stress out at poor drivers like I do when I drive.

It’s a profoundly relaxing and beneficial experience this walking.

It helps in many ways.

peace
jds

2

[quote=“jdsmith”]So now I walk. I got myself an MP3 and I load it up with a Dead show and I walk.

I find that blocking out the rough around the edges sounds of Taiwan actually numbs the eyes a bit as well. I find little to complain about as I walk.

I walk to relieve stress. I don’t drink, but I used to, and I used to enjoy so pretty damn fine beers and whiskies. But I don’t drink and I have discovered that when I’m walking and jamming and sweating I don’t think about the irritating pull to drink. [color=blue]I’m on my fourth dry month and the high of not drinking has long passed[/color]. It’s hard,but when I’m walking, it’s not.

I walk to lose weight, as not drinking and not smoking has led me straight to the refrigerator.

I walk and I think and I’m beginning to feel that I should bring a notepad with me as my creativity seems to spike when I’m out. That’s cool, as I used to write poetry and short stories and it’s nice to know that those brain cells are a) still there and b) still working.

I think that maybe walking is making me a better person as I am not in a rush when I walk, even though I walk pretty fast. My head is relaxed. I notice things that make me smile, like an old man sitting next to his bike at dusk; a great picture; a smile at a jogger who seemed as though we shared some bond. I get to think about work a bit, but not much, about my family whom I love so much, and my friends here in Taiwan and back home. I think about things I’d like to do and people I’d like to help. I don’t stress out at poor drivers like I do when I drive.
[color=blue]
It’s a profoundly relaxing and beneficial experience this walking.[/color]

It helps in many ways.

peace
jds[/quote]

We naturally seek the pleasure in life. It’s normal. I’m an eater. Binge like proportions when released from restraint. I link the pleasure and relaxation of the exercise program with beating the problem and feeling good about it then I don’t want to overeat. Sometimes the exercise program is a real hardship. I can still attach pleasure to having beaten lazy inactivity and getting out and doing it. Often as not half way through the ride, run, walk, gym program I’ll start to feel good anyway.

Then the link is where you’ve enjoyed the exercise or used determination to get out and do it anyway so why would you want to spoil that by reverting to the short term pleasure of drinking/ smoking etc.

Good luck jd. As you mention above the danger is when you get over the initial joy of having beaten the problem and it becomes routine. Usually the bounce back time and the biggest problem. Keep strong.

Note: When you open that refridgerator make sure its salads that come out. Tomato, lettuce, carrot etc. The wet vegetables. Never the solid ones. Eat them to excess with no dressing or as little as you can handle.

3

JDS -
Good thoughts.
Walking is good. SOmetimes to explore the inner head…sometimes as a way to open the eyes to things not always seen along the way.
The boy and I try to walk everyday after I pick him up at school. I try to find a new flower or something new for him every time. Teaching him to see things rather than just looking and it not registering. Slowly…slowly…I hope he will learn to use his eyes as well as his mind. And his mouth.
Also working on his using his ears - - 2 ears, 1 mouth…listen 2x’s more than yapping.

Its like life…a work in progress.

4

I enjoy walking too, I just don’t do enough of it.

I find it really is good for my mental state of mind to go take the dog out for a walk. People stop me all the time and want to talk about the dog, where I am from, what I do here…so it’s a good way to interact with the community here too.

The problem for me is time. I can either go late at night, or early in the morning. Just after work always seems to be busy with various things, and it’s never consistent. I prefer morning walks, but dragging myself out of bed at 6am so I can go for a walk before work is really difficult.

Must try harder.

5

You’ve come a long way grasshopper.

:notworthy:

6

I walk 6 to 12 Km most days. I’d jog but a bad back has pretty much put an end to that.

However, I find walking has one big advantage over jogging and that is think time. I find it hard to think things through when I’m pushing myself, even slightly. So I like to cotton on to one thought and follow it through when walking. I love it.

I’ve never stopped this routine since leaving high school, but I’ve slowed from footy fit to a walk.

7

This is true.

So the routine now is pain and denial.

Last night’s walk was the longest yet and I was pretty stiff today, as I spent most of the day on my ass,in the car and in the movie theatre. But, fuck it, I went for a walk tonight listening to the early show of 3/1/69: heavy on bass and jerry is just fargin magical and TC is still in the band playing keyboards.

I do not walk for pleasure oddly enough. I walk with purpose.To sweat and forget pretty near everything. It’s a Zen thing, either that or some mindbalnking exercise left over from roadtrip to the Dead days.

I deny my body, not myself. I deny it alcohol, and the Gods were thrashing me today in Breeze with free booze giveaways. :raspberry: I deny my body smokes, even though I KNOW that first nic hit will feel GRRRRRRRREAT!

This denial makes me angry in that why can’t I be one of them guys who can drink and smoke and run five miles in the morning before breakfast. I knew those guys in the USMC. Fuckin bastards.

I persevere in my walk this evening, despite getting lost, because I wanted to find a steep hill I know about to walk up. I ended up doing the longest walk yet, about an hour and 20 minutes.

My toes hurt. Pain.

I don’t want a drink anymore, nor a smoke. Furthest things from my mind.

I noticed tonight how the smells around me remind my of my childhood. Walking off years and walking back through them at the same time. Cool. Birdshit smells like chicken shit, especially when the birds are all in a truck and have probably been there for a looong time. When I was like 6 I lived way far out in the country and on the freezing winter weekend after we’d been kicked out of the house, we’d huddle up in the old chicken coop. No chickens for years, but the stench was in the walls, and in the shit that had never been scraped off the floor or roosts.

Which reminds me of when my brother Bob was so cold he put both his arms inside his snowsuit and was somehow swinging himself around a roof support for the porch roof and he slipped off and went facefirst into the walk with no way to break his fall but with his face as his arms were basically tied down.

At least we got to get in out of the cold.

8

i applaud you jdsmith,

i consider walking my favorite mode of transport. where i worked for the past 10 years was about 2.5 miles from home. i biked 6 months out of year, and walked the other 6 months-when the snow and ice came.

it was about a 35 minute walk one way. i found this a great time for not only exercise, but thinking time-getting ready for my day in the morning, and then unwinding from my day in the afternoon.

you notice so much more of your surroundings when walking-as opposed to zipping by while enclosed in steel and glass.

i walked a lot in taipei, probably 5 to 8 miles per day. it’s my favorite way to discover new things in taipei. if i got lost, no big deal, my map would always get me back on track. that is if i had a track. usually i would just wander, or saunter. i like to saunter.

if i walked 3km, my friends thought i was nuts when they asked how i got home and i said “i walked”. “you walked 3km??!!”
this was a short saunter. i got the tired feet only after 10km. you will get used to it over time, so keep it up. or take a break in a park and take your shoes off for a spell.

keep up the good sauntering.

jm

9

Join the hiking club. Join the hiking club.

10

How sad is it that as a result of all the technology and wealth at our disposal anybody could forget the pleasure of “walking”. Walking. Good lord.

Anyway, jd welcome back.

It seems to me that a lot of people make themselves sore from walking simply because they don’t make stretching a regular part of their walking routine. Stretching. No need for a fancy program or a masochistic attitude toward it, just try strecthing this way or that till you find something that feels good. Massage your calves and lower back. Lay down and pull your knees to your chest. Do ankle twirls. Breathe slowly, fully and deliberately. When you feel all loosey goosey again get up and walk a bit and at different paces and different strides. Find a place to walk that isn’t covered in concrete, someplace you have to climb up and over stuff, use your balance. Jog a little and stretch again.

You think walking is great, wait’ll you try stretching…

11

to bob, et al:

“how sad is it?” very sad. and very sad that people drive to a gym to both: a) get on a stationary bike or b) get on a treadmill and walk nowhere. that always strikes me as strange. “oh, im gonna drive 4 miles to my gym and sit on a bike that goes nowhere, or drive to my gym so i can walk with my arms swinging diligently, while i go nowhere”. how odd, to me this seems.

i will go ahead and state my opinion here (oh, the rath that may come), but i think anyone who is able-bodied and lives within 2.5 miles/4kilometers of the workplace should make it a part of their day and walk or bike to work. it takes the average person 15 minutes to walk 1 mile/1.6km.

how long does it take the average person to drive 1 mile/1.6 km in traffic? oh, probably 15 minutes. by time you get in your car/scooter, start it up, drive, stop, drive, cuss, stop, drive, stop; then have to park, if you can find a space. yeah, at least 15 minutes. it may only save time if you are going 3 miles/ 4.8km or more. but then you have much more of the stop, drive, stop, cuss, drive, stop, drive…or you could spend some quality commute time and walk the 45 minutes (3 mi/4.8km)-or gee-whiz, ride a bike. you can ride a bike all year long in taipei-when do you have a foot of snow or sheets of ice on the roads? what else do we have to do here but get out and enjoy what’s around us? a commute via foot power doesn’t have to be a chore. it can be a wonderful way to start/finish the work day; same goes for a walk for fun with no particular destination in mind.

not only do you save gas/air quality, but you spend your time by yourself, thinking, contemplating, chuckling, smiling, getting smiled at, breathing, engaging your bones, muscles and organs; and preparing/processing your day ahead/behind you.

technology…a matter of convenience for what i ask??, so we can work more?? so we can get fatter, so we can feel more comfy and clean?? technology has it’s advantages, but when it sneaks in there and takes away the simple things, then i’m better off without it.

i advocate for walking not only as a means of self-rejuvination, recreation, but as a means of transporting our carcasses from point a to point b.

try it if you chose, or don’t.

saunter on…

oh, and ps:
im not an english teacher, and i didnt even wear a headband when “loverboy” was cool. oh come on, you know you liked at least one of their songs in the 80’s.

12

MMan wrote:

I was thinking about that last night. Really. Soon. When I’m in better shape. You guys don’t mindif I bring my MP3 do ya? :wink:

bob wrote:

[quote]
How sad is it that as a result of all the technology and wealth at our disposal anybody could forget the pleasure of “walking”. Walking. Good lord. [/quote]

Well, easy there Abby. The ONLY reason I started walking was because I got an MP3 to cut out the damn noise. :slight_smile:

But you are right, it is very easy to get caught up in the wonderful techonology out there and forget about the “natural” things.

I used to walk ALL the time when I was kid. Through the woods, up the mountains, down logging roads, along the country roads. Maybe that was pacing though.

My toe still hurts. I will attempt stretching but my son doesn’t like to see me cry.

13

every kid where i grew up walked to get somewhere.

now there is the “soccer mom or dad” to drive you everywhere.

kids used to know what is was like to explore. to get out there, away from the comforts of home, and just simply explore. you could be gone for hours, but everything was fine. you were out there sniffing, seeing, hearing, touching, exploring. i reckon rural kids still know this, but urban children may not.

well, that was me anyway, as a child-spending my free time in the woods, down the creek, catching snakes, turtles, frogs, whatever i could find. and just being “out there”.

now as adults, we can feel that again if we just get out there and sniff, and look, and listen, and feel, and wander, and wonder and get back to real life.

how much time do we have here??

we might as well get out there and sniff it now, see it now, hear it now, touch it now, and relish in it now… because, yes, it’s only a short time we get to do this.

some don’t have the means to get out and do this. some did, but have lost it to age or disability.

we owe it to them all to get out there and sense life in all it’s splendor.

(order yours with or without cheese, it’s still good)

jm

14

Yes, we all need to throw rocks into the river sometimes.

15

yeah, throw rocks in the river.

i like to skip 'em.

i’m really good at it.

i can get 8 or 9 skips before it sinks,

bet you can’t.

(challenge)

16

JD get some good shoes. I walk everywhere here. If i don’t wear the right shoes, my knees and ankles die.

17

I walk to and from work everyday and sometimes do it again at lunchtime. It only takes about 10 minutes but boy do I sweat at the moment. Really I find no pleasure in the sticky sweaty walks, but I know what you guys mean about walking as a kid, I used to walk 10 miles to a part time gardening job when my bicycle was broken (aged about 14) and then back again if I couldn’t cadge a lift. Damn I was fit back then.

18

Well, my wonderful autoimmune disease attacks my tendons so trust me, my feets are well padded. :slight_smile:

19

yeah suchafob,

good shoes are crucial. i guess i always just took it for granted, but, some folks go out unprepared.

there are a lot of good, lightweight, sturdy, walking shoes out there.

don’t go on a serious walk in your chuck taylors, or your dock shoes, or your office shoes, or even your comfy sandals.

a serious, steady, good paced walk requires a good pair of shoes.

i prefer what here (in montana) are considered day hike shoes. they are like a running shoe basically. they are durable, good soles, breathable, good ankle support, good cushion, lightweight, water resistant. they are just a damn “sneaker” really, no big deal. but better than my chucks for a serious walk.

oh yeah, a good shoe.

makes all the difference.

good point, suchafob!

20

:laughing: Try stretching the other way. Or hitting it with a hammer. That sometimes helps…

Seriously though jd I haven’t owned a car or motorcycle or any of that for twenty years and so I have found myself doing a lot of walking as one might expect. Like FOB said above whatcha need I reckon is a wicked good pair of shoes. Whatever feels just right. Cross trainers were good for a long time but the Nike Air “running” shoe is my weapon of choice these days. Nice shoes make A LOT of difference. Might even help that toe…