I have a theory... It's not for nothing we're bi-peds. What it means is we're designed primarily to use our feet, secondarily to run and sit.

Helga's Heartlines: A Journal
Saturday, August 2, 2003.
Newmarket, Ontario.



Footsteps on the landing to the family room, my favorite windows-on-the-world retreat, interrupt the usual cyberspace ‘lifeline’ preoccupations.

“Okay, it’s overcast, but getting brighter, and the rain has stopped. Looks like a good time to go for our walk, if we’re still
going,” she’s just called to suggest.

Now, here she is, my mom, 78, looking expectant, canvas hat in hand, dressed, ready and waiting, right down to her running shoes. We’ve scarcely hung up the phone.
“Well, for heavens’ sake, isn’t it something?” I say to myself.

I’ve heard it takes 30 days or so to build a new habit.
I’ve been coaxing and working on her for at least as long as that.
It’s working!

I step outside on the patio, conveniently located near my computer, and check conditions for myself: Warm and muggy; cloud cover breaking; sun peaking through; the stones, roads and sidewalks damp in spots, but almost dried up.

“All right then, let’s go!”

Up two flights of steep townhouse stairs to my room, grab my money belt and watch, I’m ready in two minutes.

I drive us to where we like to walk. The Town has done a wonderful job on a Millennium Project to enhance the natural ambiance of the natural green space, the conservation area and waterway, at the foot of Main Street, Fairy Lake Park. It offers a wealth of visual stimulation to be enjoyed in tandem with our physical activity. There’s woods and marshland, a river, two or three tiny islands, some magnificent old growth ash, a manmade fountain and dam with waterfall. You can’t go far without crossing paths with plentiful Canada Geese and Mallard ducks and their young, maybe a Blue Heron, myriad song birds and other feathered species.

“What time have you got?” I ask.

“1:30.”

We normally prefer earlier or later in the day, but know enough to go with the weather.

“Okay, see you at 2:00 or five-after, in case something interesting turns up.” (Something almost always does.)

Mom likes a slower tempo and stops more often, so we each go our own way, take a different path and meet back here at the parking lot. The route is designed like a figure 8 with the bottom loop smaller and another branch, a narrower paved footpath, running off. She enjoys the small loop along the river, which includes bridges at both ends that connect it to the boardwalk. I like to keep up a brisk pace, allowing one or two pauses to appreciate whatever crops up, so I take the large loop, approximately 2 miles long.

It’s a funny thing about this walking. The more I do it, the more I want to do it and simply must do it. It’s a pleasure as well as a discipline and it doesn’t wear off, in the way of a typical home or gym regimen. I think my mom may be the ultimate proof. I can’t make her do anything. She started doing this with me because she knows I’m right: It’s good for her health. She recently had to have surgery, and now is recovering nicely. For a while there I think she was getting physically rundown and easily overtired. That medical scare was a wake up call. I reminded her it’s a fact that regular exercise helps just about everything, including getting her medicine circulating.

I understand that running can be addictive, also. I have a theory about it, though. Run if you must, especially if you love to, have good knees, and the impulses of a gazelle. There are those of us like that. For the rest: Think about it. Our ancestors had to walk a heck of a lot more than we do and, as hunter-gatherers, cover vast territory. Yes, they had to run, too, but in short bursts, not for great distances and prolonged periods. It's not for nothing we’re bipeds. We're designed primarily to use our feet, secondarily to run and sit. The wheel, the horse, the carriage, the car, the rest...came after. Evolution doesn’t work that fast to mutate and adapt us. Such modifications in physical demands on us don’t amount to a millisecond in the scheme of biological development. So, the good news is, according to medical research, a respectable daily walk is sufficient exercise for one’s overall physical health. The bonus is that there’s mental side-benefits as well. Yes folks, it’s my personal conviction that we can walk our way to well being. The only caveat: As long as we don’t cancel these gains by overeating.

Go for a walk! Such a simple and available prescription for whatever ails one – and it’s available to practically everyone. Why, I’ve almost been mowed down by the driver of motorized wheelchair, gentleman with cane, octogenarian making his determined way with walker. Let these folks be examples to the rest of us. We are meant to keep moving, to be out and about. We are meant to sit for only so long. We are not meant for the sedentary lifestyle most of us inhabit. Appearances to the contrary, we are not designed and cultivated to become coach potatoes. Haven’t you noticed how everything starts to sag when gravity sets in? Push through gravity by creating some natural resistance; counteract the downward drag of inertia. Get off your butt, Ye of spreading seat!

En route, on my daily excursions, it’s heartwarming to encounter all the varying sights and sounds, to meditate on personal concerns or let the mind wander. I smile or greet couples, all ages, holding hands; kids on bikes, tricycles, in Day Camp; moms jogging or rollerblading with their baby carriages; runners and power walkers maintaining tempo with their walkmans; masters with matching pooches, (yes, they really do look alike); seniors basking on park benches in the sunshine. The voices of actors rehearsing ‘LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST’ and 'MEASURE FOR MEASURE' for this season’s Shakespeare in the Park can be heard clearly across the lake as I motor along. Interesting ambiance. Geese cruise along as backdrops to the wafting words, while mature ducks lead their tiny entourages in wedge formation through the calm waters.

When I get into my natural rhythm, it’s almost effortless, my legs just seem to carry me along. It’s an energizing yet surprisingly relaxing quality of time, with a spiritual dimension. It contributes to all my other creative, intellectual and physical endeavors. Great ideas crop up to use in my writing or to respond to issues raised in online group debate.

Aware that walkers have fewer incidences of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other killer diseases and live longer and get mental health and spiritual benefits, I learned that you can increase its effectiveness by striving to:

Walk for 30 minutes or more
Walk 4 days or more a week
Get a moderate intensity workout (3.5 miles per hour or faster)

I had no idea how I was really doing in terms of these measurements until a few weeks ago. At the bridge where two paths connect the trail’s figure eight I came upon a gentleman and fellow walker, 6 ft tall or so, and noted we were moving along at exactly the same pace in the same direction. Although he was a foot taller I was matching him stride for stride. That surprised me, because he was not going slowly, yet I was keeping up. It seemed silly to walk along that way side by side and say nothing, so I started making some casual conversation. That’s when I learned the distances in the park and how fast we were going. Pleased I was to discover: 4 miles an hour! Now there’s no stopping me. I’m going great.

I’ve always taken great pleasure in walking. As a kid, and then when I lived in the heart of the city, it was still my pleasure on weekends to travel a stretch of the world's longest, Toronto’s Yonge Street, under my own steam, my feet. There’s somewhere to walk and something to see wherever you are. Make the most of it and if you can, go somewhere else you like better. But the main thing is to fit it in, in my opinion. It’s a priority that should be put ahead of household maintenance. Your maintenance ought to come first, or the dust bunnies won’t really matter, much, will they?

Whoa, here’s the parking lot! How’d we get back so fast? I was hardly aware of it happening. That’s how it is when you’re preoccupied with thinking or sharing your thoughts.

And here comes mom, moving along quite nicely – you’d think she was more than 10 years younger than her age – smiling, eyes bright, face flushed with healthy color. Good for you, mom. As far as I’m concerned, every step we take, both of us, is a healing step for you with some extra energy left for me. Now we’ve earned rest and relaxation. She’ll go home and take a nap while I’ll go home to my favorite spot and pick up where I left off...and maybe write something....