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Andra Watkins

Walk This Way

My battered feet may protest. My hinky knees might creak. But my muscles shriek........

My battered feet may protest. My hinky knees might creak. But my muscles shriek……..

WE. MUST. WALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So.

While I came to Vancouver with MTM to lie prostrate. On a bed. With good wine. And potato chips.

Instead.

My legs want to walk this way. And that way. Chinatown. The waterfront. Gastown. The West End.

Because, really. The only way to see a new city—or any city—is to walk. And walk. AND WALK.

Is it possible to be addicted to walking, Dear Reader? Is that a bad thing?

.

Click here to see photos of my feet were made for walking: Andra Watkins Tumblr

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My crippling walk is over, but you can still read the book. To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis is available in paperback and e-book formats at these outlets: Click to Purchase To Live Forever.

A question about walking. Or grinding.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGlFHNQAC0I&w=560&h=315]

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49 Comments

  1. Spool today Vancouver, tomorrow? “Hinky” is a new word for me. The physical activity is surely what you must miss, along with the time to be in quiet with your own thoughts. Did you see the NY Times brief documentary SloMo? Google it. It holds your answers.

    2. I stole that word from The Fugitive. 🙂

      Plenty of walking today and tomorrow. MTM gets done with his conference in an hour or so, and it’s public market and Yaletown for us. Tomorrow, we’re doing some serious hiking. My legs and feet will be SO happy.

      I wish life didn’t require money. Ha.

  2. You are absolutely right about walking to see a new city. Every time I visit my brother in D.C., that’s the majority of my trip. Vancouver is one of those places I would love to see, so I say keep walking and enjoy it while you can.

    1. DC is a great place to walk. I miss going there regularly.

      We almost never get to the Pacific Northwest these days. It costs a small fortune to fly from Charleston. Luckily, we got a good deal because we were in Nashville.

  3. There was a cool short novel by Stephen King (under his pseudonym Richard Bachman) where these people all entered into a life or death contest called The Long Walk. You had to keep up a certain pace or else you got shot. Eventually, when it came down to the last walker, they were so terrified and delirious that they just couldn’t stop walking, even when they passed the finish line.

    1. Ha. I felt that way some days on my long walk. And I heard gunshots here and there…………

  5. Walking is the best way to get to know a city. Recently I realized that one of the reasons why I feel more tied to San Francisco, where I only lived for 3 1/2 years, than I do in my current location, where I’ve lived for 20+ years, is because of walking. I walked everywhere in SF: to work, to school, for fun, for exercise, for transportation. Granted, I had access to mass transit, but I still had to walk, get to know the streets, the landmarks, my surroundings. Where I live now, in relative suburbia, my walking is for exercise only since TLH is not a pedestrian-friendly place and the bus system is a joke.

    1. It is hard to walk as much outside of a city with that infrastructure. I’m determined to live in a city like that before I’m done. SF is a great one. I always walk everywhere when I visit.

      1. I feel a strong sense of freedom when I can walk to where I want to go and not rely on a car. Although I grew up around farmland in upstate NY, so I of course make an exception for rural areas 🙂 When I visit home, I don’t mind driving at all. I almost enjoy 🙂

  6. I find that too, that even when I want (need?) to stop and rest, that if I’m somewhere new I want (need?) to be out and about, walking, taking it all in.

    I’m glad you haven’t stopped yet.
    Happy Walking.

    1. It’s that curiosity thing, I think. 🙂 I’m glad you have it, too.

  7. Once a walker, probably always a walker….it’s a good thing, and I know you’ve been a walker and climber (scrambler?) for a long time; however, 2800′ elevation gain in less than two miles?! I looked up the Grouse Grind and my legs started to ache just from reading those stats and looking at the photo! Keep us posted if/when you decide to tackle that!!

    1. I wish I could do the Grind while I’m here, because I don’t know when we’ll be back. I must be a sadist, because I was disappointed that it was closed.

  8. If you are going to have an addiction, walking would not be a bad one. I knew you wouldn’t be able to just sit still after all the walking you have done recently. You need to wear a pedometer or use the “Map My Walk” app to see how far you are walking every day now.

    1. I tried Map My Walk when I was training, and it drove me absolutely insane. Plus, I didn’t like how it reported my activity to Whoever.

  10. You can’t help yourself. You’ve built up such a strong walk habit! Besides, it is the best way to see a city!

    1. I was thinking the other day that I’d probably keep walking some once I’m home. I could walk the bridge and back, and that’s a quick seven miles. Ha.

  11. i completely agree, it’s by far the best way to really see and feel a place. even if your feet and knees don’t agree )

    1. It may take my feet a while to recover. Feet aren’t made for that kind of daily abuse.

    1. I’m looking forward to an afternoon with MTM. I feel like I haven’t seen him much since we’ve been back together.

  13. We’ve walked all over Vancouver in all kinds of weather. It really is a great city.

  14. I predicted this a while back (blame that ghost from the past with two bullet holes in him), but it’s a good curse to be afflicted with. Unless you and MTM never got to that wine and potato chips. Hmmm. What kind of wine and what chips go with said wine (he whined)?

    1. I had Tyrell’s salt and black pepper chips and some generic red wine. Because I LOVE potato chips, anything goes with them. 🙂

  15. Keep walking while you can. It will help counterbalance the potato chips. 🙂

    1. I don’t think anything counterbalances potato chips when I eat them.

  16. Yes, that’s exactly what I figured. The muscles like to be worked, and when the leg muscles work, the eyes get a feast for the soul…and whispers for new adventures.

    1. I’m still waking up pretty stiff, though, and that bothers me. Maybe getting home and back to yoga will help with that.

  17. Definitely. Walking provides an eye level view and allows you time to notice things that no other means of transport does. Hope you had fun:)

    1. Every day is fun here. (Though I always feel that way when I’m seeing a new place.)

  18. It’s absolutely possibly to be addicted to walking. I am!
    In fact I wish I’d somehow learn to love running as much as I love walking. Not going to happen. …but hope springs eternal.

        1. I did offer to come back and walk it with you in my video, though. I’d love an excuse to come back here.

          1. Haven’t seen the video yet. Stuck at LGA and phone is protesting by moving extraaaaaa slooooowww.

  19. Older cities are great for walking. They have a history, and places to take in. I’ve walked the downtown area here plenty of times, as it’s about five blocks. It’s the only place in town worth studying the surroundings, in my opinion.

    1. I walk in Downtown Charleston as much as I can. It’s bigger than 5 blocks. Given that I have a love/hate relationship with the place, it depends on which end of the spectrum I’m in when I go for a walk. 🙂

  20. I tell friends that we like to go on vacations to large cities because we get so much exercise when we do that. They always look at me like I’m nuts [well, nuttier than usual]. Your post confirms what I’ve been saying all along. Thank you.

    As for being addicted to walking, would that I were. Perhaps you could write a primer on that topic? Call it, To Walk Forever!

    1. I think any exercise, consistently practiced, becomes necessary to the muscles after a couple of weeks. I’m having a really hard time with that right now. I guess I just need to figure out how to channel it into something that I can continue to do every day.

  21. Not a bad addiction to have. I happen to prefer the potato chip addiction. 🙂

  22. Just got back from hiking all around Utah! It was fantastic! The most we hiked each day was about 7 miles and I kept thinking about your 15 miles per day! By the way, I like your shoes in the pictures. Are they new and what are they! Can’t wait to see you when you get back home!

  23. Aww I finally got enough bandwidth to watch the video. Made me smile in the squalor that is LGA.

    You are ON, Miss Andra! Grouse Grind won’t know what hit it!

    xoxo

  24. Hinky knees… I like that phrase, Andra! Walking is the best way to see anywhere… it sounds as though you have an addiction there now.

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