Walking for inspiration, adventure, health

<p>I am walking and it’s OK. Becky is still out there running, and that’s OK, too. To paraphrase that 1970s self-help book: I’m OK; She’s OK. Now, my right leg, well, it’s not doing that great.</p><p>No more running for me for a while, doctor’s orders. I thought it was a hamstring problem but the doctor says, no, it’s a sciatic nerve problem. Once again I am reminded how terrible I am at diagnosing my own health issues. Anyway, I can’t run for a while, so walking is how I have been getting my aerobic exercise.</p><p>I guess the two of us, Becky and I, are exercise junkies, but in the scheme of things that is not a bad habit to Jones on. And although I really like to run, walking is not a bad way to get the blood pumping. Any activity that gets you moving is a good thing.</p><p>We live on a country road so, although there are no walking paths nearby, I don’t have the hassle of traffic and noise when I walk. That is a trade-off I am willing to make. One of the things I enjoy about running is how my mind wanders off on its own direction. I am pleased that I can get the same experience with walking, so that’s OK, too.</p><p>Reading the August issue of The Atlantic I came across an article about walking titled “How Walking Became Pedestrian.” (Clever.) Author Michael LaPoint describes how authors and writers since the Romantic period and before have used walking as a way to generate ideas and think about their works. He includes quotes from philosophers Nietzsche and Kierkegaard as well as modern authors who claim that walking is a writer’s pathway to inspiration and creativity.</p><p>LaPoint then quotes Erling Kagge, an adventurer who has walked from North Pole to South Pole as well as Everest and has written about it in Walking: One Step At a Time. Kagge describes the “political implications of walking” and argues that walking is a rebellion against those in power who want us to sit “…and participate in the growing GNP…consume as much as possible and rest when we aren’t doing so.” To walk, says Kagge, is a radical striking out against the culture.</p><p>He probably came up with that idea while walking.</p><p>I don’t think I have a political agenda as I stride down the road, although maybe my desire to be healthy and feel good is somehow a statement. I guess anything can be, if you are looking at it through a political lens. I don’t know if I am striking a blow against the culture, but I do know the variety of benefits claimed by walking enthusiasts are many, almost as many as the number of books that have been written about walking.</p><p>You can read The Complete Book on Walking, How to Walk Yourself Thin, Walking Your Way to Fitness, Walking the Sacred Path, as well as an entire sub-group of walking journals and logs. It is clear that money can be made writing about putting one foot in front of the other. Could it be said then that perhaps even walking sometimes contributes to the GNP?</p><p>In these books and on-line you can learn that walking makes your heart healthy and regulates your blood pressure; it aids weight loss and builds muscle; it makes your bones stronger and protects your joints; it improves your sleep and puts you in a better mood. Evidence suggests that a good walking regime possibly prevents some cancers and wards off dementia. Some say it can make you smarter. Of course, if you spend all your time reading, you won’t have time to actually walk.</p><p>Which is why I am going to stop writing now and go out for a brisk couple of miles. Normally I would run, but today I walk. And that’s OK.</p>