Walk On......

I love walking. Not just walk around but go for long walks in forests, on mountain trails or on beaches, or anywhere where there is nature …. I remember some nature walks when in school and a few great walks when on family holidays in the mountains or at beach resorts. When you walk you get to see more …. as opposed to driving … so this what we did when we went to new places, especially when travelling abroad. One trip to Paris with IS, I had never walked so much in my life ….. we explored quite a bit of the city on foot.

I love nature and the outdoors …. walking gives the pleasure of both. Weather-permitting I’d much rather be outdoors than in, and love seeing greenery, the birds (the feathered variety, not the other kind that IS prefers!).

Back home in India I did not walk much, in fact hardly at all. In Chennai we were lucky to have our homes within a 5-min. walk from the beach, but the lack of cleanliness was a put-off, and worse, the sight of villagers squatting along the water-line to relieve themselves would totally take the fun out of it.

Then in Dubai for 3 years our apartment was again very close to the sea, so I started regular walks along the beach … no cleanliness issue here so usually barefoot, feeling the sand and sometimes the water. Mostly in the evening so one could stop, sit and gaze at the sea and the setting sun. And the fun of seeing people of all ages enjoying themselves in the water.

Just over a year ago we moved house to the Lakes area of Dubai, a residential colony with row housing surrounding some man-made 'lakes'. The streets along the water-bodies are lined with date-palms with a lot of green around. A paved walking path runs all along the streets. This ready-made track was very tempting …. I could not keep myself away from it long. So after settling into the house, in a couple of months I started setting out on my evening walks again.

After some days of walking … IS joked that I was not doing much exercise, walking more for leisure and just to enjoy the scenery …. I would retort that he was not even doing that.

A few years ago one suddenly woke up to the need to address health issues ... like stiff joints, lack of muscle tone, lethargy, weight gain; and the benefits of exercise. Both IS and I tried different exercise regimes. IS joined a gym for short spells, sprinkled with an occasional swim, all of which he soon gave up. I joined yoga classes at my sister-in-law’s home but when this stopped it was tough to continue alone and soon dwindled out. Keeping up any exercise schedule is tough.

Now IS and I walk regularly almost every evening. Seeing the serious, professional-looking joggers who pass by prompted us to increase our pace, so we started inter-spacing our walking with short jogs. It has now become our daily fix … by the end of the walk which lasts about 35 mins. ... about 3 kms … with the warm, very humid weather in Dubai we end up soaking wet with perspiration, and can feel each pore open … and sweating!

IS says his English teacher at school had to regularly correct them in class with a stern 'horses sweat, humans PERSPIRE!'

Getting back home is a real relief, where would we be without air-conditioning?! And water … there’s really nothing like water, period. More so on a very hot day. And in Dubai it can go up to 48 Deg. C, so we've been there!

Then we read that jogging can severely strain our feet and knee joints, and that jogging does not help lose weight anyway! Well, we continue our walks and jogging, and promise to tread carefully!

As long as my legs have the strength and I have no major aches and pains I will continue to walk and run!!!!