When asked, my doctor replied with a question. “Can you walk a mile ?” Well yeah, anyone can walk a mile. He asserted that if you could walk a mile, you were fine.
Really? Just a mile? Anyone can walk a mile. Or so I thought. People that go to Costco and shop there get a mile in. A Trader Joe’s is six blocks from our home. Walking there and back with a little walking through the store, that is a mile. But then there is the question of “will you walk a mile?” 1 have to admit to taking a car to Trader Joe’s. Yes, we did fill it up with three or four bags of groceries. But still.
Perhaps the doctor should be asking things like:
Can you walk a mile every day for a week?
How quickly can you walk a mile?
How far can you walk in an hour?
And perhaps:
Do you walk a mile? or
How far will you walk instead of taking a car?
I checked in with about a dozen friends and family people about how long it takes them to walk a mile. I put the Same question to each of them, “how long does it take you to walk a mile?” None of the people under 4@ knows what their time is. (3 people) One replied “Too long… One person, who spends his summers walking the Pacific Crest Trail said “2 miles an hour is a good pace.” People who walk for fitness report 13, 16, 17 and”on a good day with good weather 15 mins +/- 30 seconds On a typical day 15:45 – 16:10″ He also used to come in “under 14:45 consistently” All the rest of the people I asked gave answers in the 20 to 25 minute range. There is one guy who replied, “Thanks to my phone obsessively stalking me I know this. 18 minutes to walk a mile.” My phone reports that I walk 22 ti 28 minutes per mile. My real question for myself is “Everyday?” And the answer much like my One Typed Page answer is “No”, not every day.
I know there is more to be said about Walking. About how good it is for you, mentally and physically. About how there is so many things to discover while you walk. About all the things that are not part of the rest of your life. There is more to be said about walking.
Not today.
— MichaelRpdx :: ih3k :: 2022-08-05