Has anyone else found that if they walk places they've known for years , and perhaps not walked for a while, seem sooo much further than you remember? I'm a fairly fast walker, I leave most people behind, but I have to admit I don't walk as much as I should these days,..although I try to walk a couple of miles a week..as a brisk walk through the woods or the fields.. but really not much more than that. Aches and pains I never had when i was younger kinda prevent me from walking too far..although I do stride out to get good cardio exercise rather than strolling.. However I have been noticing lately that ''walks'' that I've known almost all my life have suddenly seemed to have become further than I remembered. My friend and I walked from where we live to the next town along the canal towpath a distance of just under 3 miles.. straight and flat pathway albeit a little bit narrow and stony underfoot.. we had intended walking back after stopping for a drink ..it's a walk we've known all our adult lives ...and the last time we did it was about 2 years ago... This time however, we were getting tired at 2/3rds' of the distance, and foot sore despite having good walking shoes on.. and saying we didn't remember it being ''THIS'' far.. My friend said she thinks ( btw we're both only in our early 60's) that we revert back to being toddlers as we get older, when any distance seemed a very long way LOL Needless to say we didn't walk back, we caught a bus ( that was a novelty)... but 3 miles should be nothing on a flat path Anyone else finding it harder to walk as far as you used to without tiring?...
With us, with the weather the way it's been, totally hot and definitely humid, we really can't do anything outside, especially in the afternoon. We use to be able to walk around our apartment complex after my wife got home from work, but due to the dang heat/humidity, can't even do that right now. Done a little bit of work on our boat last weekend, expecting to take it out on the water afterwards, but, again, with the heat/humidity, just couldn't do it. We were both totally exhausted when we got home. Now, we can walk around inside Walmart without a problem, but, obviously, it's air conditioned. Actually, to tell you the truth, Holly, I don't see anyone walking here...…….again, due to the heat/humidity.
I'm fine in new territory where my mind is occupied with all of the sights and sounds but in my neighborhood, I plan my walks around the benches.
Don't get me wrong..I can walk for anything up to 8km's easily if I'm walking or strolling casually as you say Beatrice.. with interesting stuff to look at , no hurry... ...but when it's just a straightforward brisk walk over a couple or so miles , I'm just finding things seem to wear me out quicker
It's funny isn't it , because we get very high humidity here..and yes it's horrible, but people do walk. In Spain where it's HOT with high Humidity ..still people walk... I think in many places in America things are just too spread out to walk maybe..and with no pavements either..so you all have to drive somewhere or go to the gym for your exercise.
At one time I was an avid walker..even some speed walking 3-5 miles srvrraltimes a week .....not now..for several reasons.
Thought about this same thing just last week; the idea that the same walk is getting further. Just seems longer now, but the distance hasn't changed. Might be that I'm getting older. 6 years ago, I started my mile and a half walk to the bus to get downtown for work. Do the same mile and a half to get back home. Did this mainly to free us from having 2 cars and to keep in shape. The staying in shape part has worked, weight and health right where it should be. Leave the house at 5:30 am, put one earbud in my right ear and start whatever audiobook I'm listening to. Because of stray animals, I never put both earbuds in...Don't want something catching me unprepared. Do my walk to the bus stop and finish up with a 15 minute bus ride to downtown. Five days a week. Rain, shine, hot, cold, even when we get that 'Southern snow'. Sometimes when I'm walking, I'll forgo the audiobook and just think. I've planned some great vacations, projects at work and home and just get back in touch with ME on these walks.
Sorry, @Holly Saunders , it's called getting old. It happens to all of us if we live long enough. My DIL and I used to walk three miles a day. You would think I would be exhausted after that but I always felt exhilarated. I wouldn't even attempt to walk that far now...……… unless Sam Elliot was at that end of the road. Then I could collapse into his waiting arms.
I think that in many parts of the world people accept the weather and dress for it, adapt their life to it, etc...
Well, some do and some don't. We really thought we could handle the humidity here, but since moving here in early 2009, that "thought" has really disappeared AND we've obviously gotten older. There are many people here that their job is outside, but none of them are 70 years old or approaching that age.
What I wonder is......how many of those people who do walk in high humidity are 70 years old or a year from it? Actually ,medically speaking, people who are 70 and above shouldn't be doing anything outside high heat/humidity. Good way to have a heat stroke. Definitely don't see people 70 and above walking around Disney World here or going to a water park. We've been to Disney World and to a water park and didn't see anyone in our age bracket at either...….really.
My thought on this is that if you routinely do something you may never become too old to do it. It's the weekend warriors that do something every 10-15 years that are most likely to keel over in the heat and humidity, severe cold, etc...
We had hiking trails crisscrossing our property which I used to walk 2 or 3 times almost daily but the trails are getting overgrown now. Some days I walk better than others but I'm just not able to go very far these days.
When my daughter, Robin, took me to spend the week with her in Orlando, we actually did a lot of walking. We went to see a huge tower that had bells and there was a whole park around the bell tower. We spent most of the day strolling around. There were people of all ages there, and they had benches where people could sit and rest or just enjoy the park. We also spent a day at Disney World, and walked for over 5 miles while we were there. Most of the people were probably younger than my age (73), but again, we saw people of just about every age, from toddlers to senior citizens, who were out walking and enjoying Disney World. I usually walk around a mile every day, overall (according to my Apple Watch ), some of it is inside when I go grocery shopping, but a lot of it is when I am outside working in the yard. I do most of that outside walking in the early mornings when it is so hot in the summer; but even when I was younger and lived in Idaho with much less humidity, I could not be out in the heat. We have people walking up and down the street we live on night and day, so there are definitely people out walking, humidity and all.
I tend to agree with you, Bea. But having said that, my great grandmother had a serious stroke (not a heat stroke) at the age of about 85, while hoeing corn out in the hot sun one summer. She survived another year or so, but never recovered. I have mixed feelings about this. I wonder if the heat really was the cause. Would it have happened anyway. And what are you going to do instead? What's the trade off between being super careful and avoiding stressful activity, versus staying in good shape. I would hate to spend the rest of my life worrying about this. Ideally most of us would probably prefer to just keel over and die instantly. Maybe it's best that no one finds you if this happens. A rather dark thought this early in the morning, isn't it?