Warmer weather and the time change has made the way for perfect walking conditions. I love to walk. When I lived in New Albany, my walking partner and I covered every street within the city limits and few outside of them as well.
One year, I took regular walks from my home along Spring Street to the top of the Knobs via Old Vincennes, Spickert Knob Road and Moser Knob Road. I was training for a 60-mile walk to raise money for breast cancer research — it was three days, 20-miles a day. I didn’t have any kids then and could invest a whole half day to whatever I wanted. I chose walking.
As a mom of two, I have to search out my walking hours — or steal them. Early mornings are best, but I don’t do them if it’s too cold out or the sun hasn’t come up yet. Now, with the time change, it will get brighter just a bit earlier. Spring is near, too, so more warm mornings will be showing up with the sunrise. Walking will be my new way to start the day, as opposed to my three cups of coffee. With a walk, one cup should do me fine, at least until after lunch.
I’ve always wanted to be a runner, but I never liked it as much as walking. In fact, I loathe running. When I have tried to jog, the only thing I think about while doing it is when I can stop. I play that game, just jog to the next sign, to that house, to the end of this road. Nothing works. My mind never strays from how far I have to go before I can stop.
Walking is a much different experience for me. It’s mediation. Ideas show up that turn into goals that turn into ways I improve my life. I work out problems (Walk out problems?) and come up with answers to questions I forgot I had.
Walking is one of my favorite ways to soothe the ground between me and my husband after a heated conversation. I’m almost always less likely to yell about who does more around the house once I’ve taken a walk. The ironic thing is that my husband and I can’t walk together. His choice of conversation never works with my stream-of-walking thought process.
When we tried walking as a couple many years ago, he would always bring up subjects I didn’t consider walk-talk appropriate, like our budget: what we had spent that week, what we needed to save, all matters on what to do with money. Ugh, just typing it wears me out. It was like taking the most stressful marriage talk and trying to do it during an activity that was all about stress reduction. He might as well have showed up at my yoga classes and asked me about our taxes. On more than one occasion, we would end up walking in opposite directions before our walk was finished, neither of us able to keep pace or patience with the other. Now, we just don’t walk together.
My walking partner was a different story. She lived less than a mile from me, and the start of our walks was always halfway in between our two houses. We would walk to our meeting place and then continue walking until we had solved the spiritual crisis of the day or laughed until our sides hurt too much to walk anymore. We never ran out of topics to keep us distracted from the number of miles we covered. Marriage, family, friends, work and the future were all fair game for our walk-talks.
Now my walking partner and I live more than 20 miles apart and walking to a middle place is unrealistic, especially with kids to boot. Most of my walks in recent years are done solo. Walking solo works well for me since it’s the only time I get to be alone, and that counts being in the bathroom. (I have learned that kids have no qualms about asking you what’s for dinner, no matter where you happen to be sitting.)
So with our new, happy, friendly and warm weather, I’m going to be taking it to the roads again. My goal is to walk enough that my shoe treads will wear thin by mid-June. I wouldn’t mind my legs wearing thin as well.
Columns
Related Photos
Discussion
GESENHUES: Walk this way
- Columns
-
-
CLERE: Walkout is absurd
The walkout by Indiana House Democrats entered its third week yesterday as tensions continued to rise and misinformation proliferated.
-
LADD: New Albany has new energy
New Albany is evolving. Public art has become more prevalent in the downtown, drawing more locals and outside visitors to our community; bringing more publicity.
-
HARBESON: The compromising nature of compromise
But there’s nothing inherently wrong with the concept of compromise. This is simply an example of how government coercion can skew and twist any concept beyond its original meaning and purpose.
-
RESCHKE: My Amazing Ohio River Bridges Project Plan
The point of sharing this memory is that once we have tolls, they will be there for as long as the bridges exist and the dollar price for frequent commuters that’s been proposed is the cheapest those tolls will ever be.
-
MOORE: The system can still work
On the local scene, services like Jerry Westmoreland’s recovery services, Bliss House, the Drug Courts (adult and juvenile) and the like are proper uses of this alcohol and drug fund money. Families in need due to a member having an addiction that affects all of them seem appropriate beneficiaries, too.
-
BEAM: As ‘Time’ goes by: A magazine’s maternal ploy
What does disgust me is the way Time used the cover photo to paint an inaccurate picture of attachment parenting and, some could argue, motherhood.
-
HAYDEN: For many, voting didn’t count for much
Three-fourths of Indiana voters who did vote, did so in the Republican primary. That makes sense: The Lugar-Mourdock contest was the marquee race, so plenty of Democrats sat it out.
-
HOWEY: Mourdock, Donnelly and the great divide
An hour after Mourdock made that explanation, U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly met with reporters at Ralph’s Great Divide restaurant. Donnelly insisted the site was chosen because “they have great meatloaf,” but used the place as a metaphor that the contrast between him and Mourdock “cannot be clearer.”
-
CUMMINS: Where did the Sabbath day go?
In the old days the little towns and rural areas across America, the churches were a vital part of our lives. They were sacred places where we received moral instruction and guidance.
-
DODD: The total package
One of the character traits anyone must possess in order to have a happy, fulfilled life is to know your own strengths. Even more important is to know your weaknesses and shortcomings. If you don’t think you have any or don’t recognize your own, someday after you get married they will be made imminently clear to you.
- More Columns Headlines
-
Defense Rests in John Edwards Trial
GM Says It Will Stop Paying for Ads on Facebook
911 Call: Confusion at Home Where Mom Shot Kids
Jury Convicts Steve Powell of Voyeurism Charges
Skechers to Pay $40 Million for Bogus Claims
Coffee May Be Key to Living Longer
Police to Groom of Slain Bride: Turn Yourself In
Laurie Fine: My Life Has Been Destroyed
FTC: Skechers Deceived Consumers With Shoe Ads
FBI Confirms Leak Probe on Al-Qaida Plot
Romney Calls Obama a 'Disappointment'
Honda Unveils New Robotics-powered Scooter
NJ Gov., Mayor Channel Seinfeld in Video Parody
Blood Drive for Woman With Flesh-Eating Disease
AG Race Tops Oregon Primary Interest
Obama Welcomes Beckham, Galaxy to White House
Raw Video: Mladic's Genocide Trial Under Way
Court Records Detail Zimmerman Injuries
Local Community Prepares for G8 Summit
New Guidelines for US Nuclear Plants
