Dear Walking,

It has become abundantly clear that I owe you an apology.  Whether you’ve known it or not, (I suspect you have) I’ve poo pooed you and your “supposed” health benefits for years. While experts would sing your praises, I’d say things like “oh sure walking’s beneficial for people who are totally out of shape but for me?  Really?”  Or “I’m a runner, I don’t walk” as if running is the alpha dog of movement.  I have behaved like a true running snob – not a Boston Marathon type running snob, I’m not that good.  No, I’m more a nouveau rich running snob – you know the type, like the hapless guy who was lucky enough to be at the internet startup at just the right time or lottery winner who can afford anything other than good taste.  I’m a running snob that’s never won a race – not even close.  Running down walking was what kept me on my faux pedestal.  But walking I’m here to tell you I’m a changed man.  I’ve seen the light and am now prepared to sing from the hymn book of your beneficial ways.  In other words, I’m here to tell you I was wrong and I’m sorry.   

This sudden change of heart came as a result of letting myself go for a time.  I was living the good life which was filled with things that were bad for me.  I packed on the pounds and lost most of my fitness.  By the time I’d set the beer and Cheetos down I was 25 pounds overweight and my blood pressure was boiling like an overheated pressure cooker.  I was bloated and felt miserable.  I knew I was headed down the wrong road and at that point was looking for a place to turn the car around.   

Now to start running again at 58, with twenty extra pounds, seething blood pressure and an all-round lack of fitness seemed like a recipe for disaster.  I’ve been known to do some really dumb things in my day but even I knew that was really stupid.  So, I thought I’d ease back into running by using its poorer cousin, walking to get me there.  I’d start out by walking the dog and gradually push the distance and tempo until I thought it would be safe enough for me to run again.  Of course, you’re probably asking yourself, why at 58 would you even want to run again?   Are you some sort of masochist?  This is a question that I’ve asked myself many times and have never really come up with a satisfactory answer.  It’s enough to say, that for me the answer lies in the fact that running is both a primal instinct and rebellious act.   I’ll try to explain myself in another post at another time.  For now, I need to clear my guilt over my past treatment of you walking.  

So off I walked and walked and walked.  I began to increase the distance and the speed.  The town I live in is bisected by a river with enormous banks on either side.  So, no matter what direction you head you simply can’t avoid hills.  Some of these hills are manageable while others are soul crushing.  Needless to say, these hills put my fitness and my fortitude to the test.  There were a number of times that I’d have to slow down or even stop to give my wheezing breath a chance to catch up with my body.  However, things started to change at first imperceptibly.    Along with a new diet I slowly began to shed some of my excess flab.   What I didn’t notice was the way I was able to motor up hills that previously would leave me gasping.  Before long I started to think about running again.  

While I was lighter and feeling much better, I knew that running was going to be a painful experience.  I knew it would take a long time to regain my strength and endurance and wasn’t altogether sure I could even do it.   I aimed to ease back into running with a run/walk plan.  This is where you run for a set amount of time and then walk for a recover period.  For instance, you might run for a minute, walk for four and then repeat.   Over a period of time, you reverse the ratio with much more running and less walking.   This is a plan that can take any couch potato and turn them into a runner.   This was my plan.  

That’s when it happened.  Right from the first few steps I took on my return to running something was different.  I felt strong.  I felt good. I wasn’t short of breath.  I chalked it up to having fresh legs after all I hadn’t run in a long time.  Surely, I’d pay for it tomorrow and be completely incapacitated with throbbing muscles and swollen feet.   The next morning, I was shocked to find myself relatively pain free.  WTF?  Off I went on another run, choosing as flat a course as I could possibly find.  That run also went surprisingly well.   Something weird was going on.  Perhaps my body was in such a state of shock it couldn’t even react with the normal level of pain and agony.   But the same thing happened day after day.  The evidence started to mount that this wasn’t just a freak happenstance – I just might be in better shape than I had anticipated.   The next big test happened when I expanded my route to include some more hilly terrain.  I felt certain this is where the rubber (and my lungs) would hit the road.  Again, I was surprised to find it not to be the case.  Sure, I was gassed by some of the hills but nothing to what I had expected.  I thought I’d be walking the hills and running the flats but in truth I ran most of the hills and all the flats.  What was going on here?  

I had no explanation for this odd level of fitness.  I’m not a natural athlete – in fact I was perennially the last picked for any team in sports.   So, it wasn’t anything remotely biological or genetic.  Slowly I began to unravel the mystery behind this strange fitness phenomena.  Similar to the stages of acceptance my thought process went something like this: “What could it be?  Why am I feeling so good?  Was it the walking?  Couldn’t be the walking.  Maybe it was the walking.  There’s no way it was walking.  Bet it was the walking.  No, maybe it was the diet.  OMG it was the walking.  Fuck I was wrong about walking.  Walking rocks.”    I’m convinced that walking was responsible for this new level of fitness.  The exercise that I had derided for years was now responsible for my running renaissance and it did so with quiet elegance. 

Yes, just like the experts had endlessly said, walking had improved my fitness level, my cardiovascular fitness, reduced my weight, improved my mood and overall, well-being.  While still far from perfect, my blood pressure levels also improved.   Not only that but I managed to do this all and stay injury free.  Running on the other hand is notorious for the toll it takes on runner’s bodies.  The old saying goes, if runners aren’t running, they’re injured.  Walking is everything it is cracked up to be and more.  

So, Walking I’m your fresh new disciple, baptized with sweat and singing with the congregation.  While I still enjoy running you have taught me a lesson in the most profound way possible – by showing me.  I hope you accept my apology Walking as I have a newfound respect and reverence for all you do.     In fact, I encourage everyone to walk and walk often. Let’s face it walking, not running is the true alpha dog of fitness.