Do you go for walks alone?

I usually have my dog with me...I'm usually thinking that I wish my dog could walk faster, but she's old. We usually go for a mile or two...sometimes three if she's feeling good. In the summer I like walking early in the morning to watch the sunrise and I enjoy a new summer morning...in the winter we don't get out as much because dark in the AM and dark in the PM when I get home...usually walks are reserved for weekends in the winter. I live in a semi-rural community so we just walk the roads of our community. I don't usually listen to music or anything else. Yes, I say hello/good morning/good evening to other walkers.

ClubSilencio wrote: »

What do you think about?

How long are your walks?

What time do you like to walk?

Where do you walk?

Do you listen to music/audiobooks?

Do you say hello to other walkers? Or are you too caught up in your own world to notice anyone else?



Let us discuss the virtues of walking.

I walk to and from work (~30 min each way) with an audiobook, as it's a convenient way to sneak in some activity to my desk-job lifestyle.

Sometimes on Sunday afternoons when my husband's buddies are over and they're playing top-volume board games in my dining room, I go out and walk aimlessly for a couple hours just to get out of the house. I also always listen to audiobooks while I do this. I'll smile at people who look at me if I'm on a recreation path (I live in a city centre so mostly it's just crowded sidewalks and ignoring people so they don't think you're crazy or so you don't encourage the crazy people, but I do have access to some parkland trails) but that's it.

I'm mostly a runner, so I would rather do that than walk except for in the case of my commute or on Sundays, because I do my long run on Saturdays and can't do another 2hr run the next day if I want to keep my knees.

Yes. Round the village is a two mile circle. Next village along is three miles away and town is six. Am lucky enough to live in a beautiful area and have canal nearby so admire the scenery watch the seasons change, plus occasionally am lucky enough to spot the local wildlife.

I recently started walking during my lunch break. It has been awesome. I've only skipped on days with lots of snow! I usually listen to music on pandora (trying new bands) or talk on the phone (good time to talk to my mom). I'm not sure what is better, the physical benefits, or mental ones. I try and walk fairly fast as well. Get some burn in.

CassidyScaglione wrote: »

Creepy questions... Are you a kidnapper?

I know, right? Headless torso-only pic and asking me if I walk alone?

keith883 wrote: »

The worst thing i encounter other then icy sidewalks right now. Is walking up behind some one who is slower then you are. I try to make noise so i do not startle them but never fails you scare the crap out of them. I had a guy on Sunday almost have a heart attack haha. I apologized and carried on.

You'd think people would expect that when walking. I was chilling after my walk, sitting down and looking out at the view. Had my headphones still going. Didn't realize a kid about 2 y/o had come up behind me with his grandma. He gets excited about something and SCREAMS right behind me. I nearly had a heart attack. Grandma apologized and I felt bad for freaking out (they probably didn't realize I had headphones in) but man, 2 y/o's can be terrifying when you don't expect them.

Now on to answer this stalker/kidnapper's questions...

Been listening to audiobooks a lot lately, sometimes podcasts. Walk about 3 miles during the day at work. I mapped out the distance prior and now I just walk that at whatever pace I feel like. Think about my audiobook, or sometimes my job, or sometimes personal stuff, or sometimes all the adorable little squirrels I have been seeing. I try not to space out, because then I realize I have to rewind my audiobook. I smile at everyone I pass.

I walk with the puppy.

Currently we walk 2.25 miles around our neighborhood after work. There is a small park in the middle of the walk that I really like. I need to figure out a longer route since this barely touches his energy, but I tend to be tired and hungry. I do still enjoy it, but I think I will find it more energizing as the sun starts setting later since I'm solar powered

I think about what I see on the walk, exciting things coming up in the future, or work things out if it was a bad day. No music since I want to be able to engage with the puppy and hear cars (almost got run over twice a couple nights ago by people flying out of their driveways with a large parked SUV blocking my view of them/their view of us in both cases.

I do say hi to everyone I see, and stop to chat if they want to engage with my puppy since it is great socialization for him.

I'm trying to get into walking, not sure if I'll keep it up.

If there's enough daylight left, I walk a 5km stretch out into the fields and then swing around back to my town. I listen to music on one ear because I hate not hearing what's going on around me. I nod at other walkers and smile.

If it's already dark outside, I stick to the town, which is well-lit and as safe as any place can be. I just downloaded my first audiobook and enjoyed walking more with that in the background.

Sometimes I walk with a friend who does an 11km walk around a bigger town. We chat and say hi to people and dogs we meet. If I were doing that walk by myself, I'd probably not be using headphones, I don't trust big cities

I walk my dog...my thoughts are random and usually dark and tend to follow the same path. I walk wherever, neighborhoods, trails, parks. Day or night, no matter the weather. I can't listen to music. Length depends on mod and weather....anywhere from 1-6 miles currently. I'd do longer though. Sometimes I say hello, sometimes I just nod, sometimes I ignore. Depends in where my thoughts took me that day.

Yes, I go for walks alone all the time. I think about whatever is on my mind. I try to think about things in a fun or stress relieving way. Sometimes I have upsetting things on my mind and I imagine yelling at the people I am upset with. Lol. I do say hi, if it happens naturally. If I am caught up in my mind I don't. I don't usually listen to music. Sometimes. I walk on pathways and sidewalks or on trails in the woods. I walk laps around the park while my kids play. Sometimes I walk alone. Sometimes my older daughter joins me. Sometimes I walk with my husband. I walk anytime. But, in hot weather, I walk in the evening. In cold weather I walk earlier in the day. I sometimes plan my walks to take me places. Many benefits. Better than sitting. Stress relieving. Fresh air. Nice view. Out and about. Around people. Gets me places (I don't drive).

You are speaking my language. I love to walk. I now have a full schedule of workouts: Zumba, yoga, kickboxing, strong lifts, cycling, etc. but walking remains near & dear to my heart. When I was my heaviest & most disorganized in terms of my health, walking was the thing I could do with the least amount of fuss or equipment or time. But it has revealed itself to be so much more than it might appear on the surface. I first started counting steps back in August. As I suspected, I already walked the recommended 10k steps a day. I was fit fat! I knew to lose weight I would need a calorie deficit so I tracked my food and upped my activity, aiming for 100k steps a week. Very soon I began to joke that the added walking was sort of like a multivitamin, a couple of Motrin, an extra dose of C and a Xanax all rolled in one activity. I still try to walk 100k steps a week along with my other workouts. About half of that is utility walking as a mom & a school sub, and the other half is fitness walking. The fitness walking is probably half urban park & sidewalk walking and half open space trail hiking. Sometimes I walk with family or friends and sometimes I walk alone. Sadly, as a woman my biggest concern is personal safety. I enjoy hiking alone but on a recent hike my friend & I returned to find her car broken into. When the sheriff showed us surveillance footage of these two huge oafs using metal tools to shatter car windows I realized hiking alone in most parks is just out of the question, which is really a shame. I think about a lot of things as I walk, both substantive & trivial. Sometimes I'm just in a sort of 'zone' as I go. I am almost always surprised & stopped by some vignette of beauty or humor along the way. I take a lot of pictures on my walks. I usually make a FB post from my hikes.
I am not a religious person, but I would venture to say that walking is as much a spiritual practice as a fitness activity in my life at this point.