When I met the owner of the company I would work for the next 16 years, he said you are a New Yorker, right! I said yes...how did you know, he said all New Yorker walk as if time is running out.
1
Wow. You write this article as if men can't be women and women can't be men! That is not what right-thinking people believe today. These generalizations about "men" and "women" are so old hat. Join the brave new world of the 21st Century where gender is all in your head!!!
1
I've been walking (outdoors, regardless of the weather) for at least a half century and now try to average 16 miles a day, every day.
I prefer walking alone at my own pace for the thoughtful solitude it provides, and have found this form of exercise to be spiritually, psychologically and physically the best way for me to live better and continuously improve my life. Enjoy it so much I've written about it and encourage everyone I meet to do the same. Immediately if not sooner!
4
Come to Montreal in February you’ll notice the change of pace!
3
I agree it's, to some extent, cultural. Whatever that means. Does caffeine consumption & its impact on speed of movement (urgency) count as a cultural effect? I'm sure Starbucks plays a role in this. The study may becoffee vs tea.
Then there's the role of a digital enmeshment and IT norms. People are wired in more ways than one... Now wirelessly.
There's the drive to "do have be", rather than, I believe, saner "be do have" "Being" may be reserved for weekends & 20 minute breathing meditations. So much to achieve! Who wants to feel what may be underneath that?
Distraction Keeps Us Sane.
When in a training for several days with 20 South Africans, all white, when breaks were announced everybody stood up instantly and walked out. The first time, I was sitting with the only other American, a black male. We sat there stunned by the uniformity. Break time!
Lastly, I live in the VI & can often recognize Stateside folks who have recently moved here, because they're leaning forward as they walk, in a rush. For lots of reasons- it's an island (!) & warm all the time (!)- folks here walk slowly. (And slavery once meant time & pace were enforced by European "masters"). If you're in a rush, you may be seen as rude, if you expect others will speed up for you.
Taking a class with Margaret Mead & reading her study of differences between cooperative & competitive societies changed my life. Plus, she talked African women carrying babies on their hips (etc) all day & impact on movement.
2
An older German lady I met said she knew her grandchildren were Americans because they walked like they owned the sidewalk.
From then on I watched and sure enough the generalization seemed true. Even American G.I.s in GDR Berlin walked liked "they owned the sidewalk".
2
@Kevin McCloy
That is quite a generalization! In NYC, tourists walk like they own the sidewalks, millennials walk like they're reading the most important text they will ever recieve, and the rest of us walk like we have somewhere we need to be.
1
The speed and manner of walking are culturally influenced. As a New Yorker in France for 40 + years, I long ago understood that posture, pace and distance are remarkably different in France and in the U.S. When walking Paris streets, I can spot Americans immediately. In Manhattan, French tourists stand out by their posture. Once I descended into the Paris Metro and, walking along the platform, I saw 3 businessmen in a discussion. I looked at the gestures, distance between them and the positions of their feet. Sure enough, when I heard their voices, they were Americans. Maybe I should write a book?
2
Walking speed is also influenced by the timing of traffic lights. It makes no sense to rush to the next corner if it just means standing there until the walk sign is on in your direction. Otherwise you're likely to get hurt. It's best to pace yourself so that the light changes when you get to the corner.
One group of New Yorkers walk considerably slower than usual: people looking at their phones.
S l o w l y c l i m b i n g the subway stairs, getting passed by elderly grandmas on sidewalks, drifting out of elevators, drifting into the paths of other pedestrians. S L O W L Y.
I wonder if people in Uganda are staring at their phones as they walk...
6
In 1965 I moved to Houston from Manhattan to go to College.
I was talking to a girl at a party and she said she recognized me because I was the one who was walking so fast in the halls of the school.
5
Men hunt, women gather.
2
What about personal preference? I like to walk fast, a like over 3mph according to the treadmill at the gym. Walking with others is never much fun, I feel hobbled.
1
I live in NYC and walk briskly and with great focus like a New Yorker. My older brother lives outside of Boston. When he came to visit me in Manhattan, walking with him was difficult, mainly because he tried to look at me while we spoke, and, as result, kept bumping into people. Most New Yorkers have mastered the art of conversing while looking straight ahead (like driving). My sense is that this is the main thing that differentiates New Yorkers from everybody else (maybe not Londoners) in terms of walking. I walk like I drive: I always look ahead of me and the dart sideways glances when I reach crossing streets. Also, I've learned to anticipate things like dogs darting for a hydrant or windowshoppers moving to a window. Regardless of speed, In NYC, waling is a lot more like driving in terms of vision and how you pay attention to your environment.
11
When I was much younger living in NYC I considered myself a fast walker. Walking from my co-op to the BMT walking fast took me 13 minutes and another 10 minutes walking to my place of employment.
In Florida I only walk on my treadmill at home. Many Floridians are not good walkers. They are slow and not as cautious as one is in NYC. Many end up victims of hit and run while crossing a street. There are many obese people here including men and women. I once asked a lady why there are so many obese people in Florida, she said it is the pig, meaning they have lots of hogs in their yards that end up on a barbecue grill. Florida is also a car culture.
2
I walk to my car fast if I’m in a hurry and not so fast if I’m not in a hurry to get somewhere.
(Also, who knew that walking speed can be racist.)
3
I can say first hand, having just visited there, that Copenhagen is one city where you can be run over by a pedestrian. The median age in that city is 35. City walkers there are in a great hurry and will not stop to tell you where they're so frantic to get to.
3
In a study of the pace of life in six countries (Levine & Wolff, Psychology Today, 1985) the researchers compared walking speed with the length of time it took to transact a simple task in a post office and also with the accuracy of clocks in banks. They found a strong correlation between the three items, suggesting that culture and cultural values have a lot to do with concepts of social time. The six countries studied were (from fastest to slowest walkers): 1 Japan, 2) the US, 3) England, 4) Italy, 5) Taiwan, and 6) Indonesia.
3
@Joe McVeigh
according to a piece several years ago in the nyt I am a fast walker. I average about 3.75 mph an walk 8-9 miles a day. i'm canadian, but lived in the Osaka area in japan on and off for 19 years. the Japanese were very very slow.
and osakans have a rep for being very aggressive, direct and with awful accents by people from the capital.
1
Another study shows that if you can walk, talk and chew gum, you're doing it wrong. For optimal health benefits, you need to walk fast enough to make conversation difficult.
This survey did not focus on people walking for exercise. Given then the wide variation in the other possible reasons for walking, it is difficult to draw any worthwhile conclusions. Clearly people are walking as the circumstances warrant.
When alone I generally run. When with a man my own age, I typically fast walk. When with my wife, I walk a good bit slower. No rocket science there.
One peculiarity I have noticed however is that when meeting or overtaking a group of women on the trail, they are disinclined to make room for you to pass. They tend to talk a lot - even to the point of talking over each other. So they're not paying much attention to the traffic around them. Despite moving over to the edge of the trail, I have a hard time dodging them. And on a few occasions, I have given them a glancing blow as I pass. Not nice but what can you do.
By the way, seldom have the same problem with a group of men on the trail, or even an individual walker of either sex.
8
Fascinating. We in the USA ought to slow down and enjoy a stroll with our children. I have travelled a lot in Africa. Very few people have cars. You do see individuals scurrying about very quickly.
3
@Lynn Hamilton
Wow. Africa is a continent. Population 1.216 billion, number of countries, 54. If you visit South Africa, you would be surprised to find an annoying abundance of car traffic. People "scurrying about" are probably pedestrians trying to avoid being run over. The risk of dying as a result of a road traffic injury is highest in Africa (26.6 per 100 000 population).
1
Dr. Wall-Scheffler might want to do a full summer follow-up on the Camino de Santiago.
There's a huge variety of motivations, solo and group walkers, talkers, devout, sports-minded and parents with kids in strollers.
I'll try for my fifth time to go from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago this spring.
See you there - try to keep up, will you!
2
Research on human walk without taking into account underlying motivations as described here... Seems like linguistics unconcerned with communication. Bizarre as it sounds... These are things...
3
Growing up in NYC taught me to be a fast walker, so much so, that now living in the south, I have people turning around looking when they hear me coming from behind! There's something about New yorkers who just have a clear plan about where they want to go and that they want to get there fast! It has stayed with me my entire life. And i have no problem with that
11
The high levels of obesity in the US might affect walking compared to Uganda.
9
I’m a NYC Street Photographer; I walk at the pace and direction my subjects take me.
http://www.blurb.com/b/7943076-native-new-yorker
1
One person, one observation in each city? I’m surprised this “study” was even published.
7
I remember a similar study that I read about in the '70's when I was in college. I suspect I read it in the Times as a matter of fact. The researchers in this case studied the walking speed in urban and rural areas with different population densities. As I recall many different case studies were made and it was concluded that population density was proportional to walking speed. It always stuck in my head because I, a country boy, couldn't keep up with my city slicker friends when we walked up the hill on Fordham Rd. from the campus to the subway. LOL!
12
The researchers didn't interview the walkers to ascertain their motives but felt it was fine to attribute competitiveness to American men while discrediting it as a concern of Ugandan men. Are these researchers straight out of the 1800s?
5
Having worked in Manhattan and lived in NJ, there is a noticeable difference in the walking speeds in the two places.
6
There is no need, much less a reason for "hope to conduct follow-up studies that would include interviews to better understand why people walk as they do." There is nothing mysterious about it. We walk as we do because of the gait we develop as children and as modified by our individualized changing height, weight, coordination, age, and physical and/or medical condition. There is nothing to be gained from studying every person's gait and the history of its changes is baffling.
Walking speed is, however, another matter. There further studies might show cultural attitudes can play a role in how a particular social grouping of people walk. For example, a particular group--say ethnic, national or religious--emphasizes the appreciation of nature or rejects materialism; its members might be inclined to walk more slowly than one that is task oriented and animated or driven by the desire to accumulate wealth or consumer goods.
It may not only be walking speed that reflects a society's soul, but also what people do while they are walking. What inferences can we reasonably draw from a society grounded in individualism and most of whose members perambulate with their ears attached to earphones and/or their eyes glued to iPhone screens? Are their any societal groups that have rejected these devices in their perambulations, and if so what are their socio-political preferences?
4
I should think that it also depends on the age and physical condition of the walker. At 92 I walk a little slower than when I was 80. Bouts of hip arteritis will slow me down even more.
11
Unless I have to go outside of downtown I walk or bike everywhere. I walk at a pretty good clip because I am usually going someplace. Or I am walking for exercise and I have a certain amount of time available. I also like to walk it clears my head and often leads to exploring unfamiliar routes. I find that people who don't walk often or don't enjoy walking tend to plod through it. But there was that first date walk with my now husband; it was slow, romantic, and ended in a long kiss.
8
Having never owned a car, and having lived in cities like London, Paris, New York ( walked Canal St to 86Th St in less than an hour )
I tend to tire when I walk slower . I am on automatic as walking is for thinking and meditation.( never had an accident )
9
"Walk" and "learn" have the same Indo-European root. The processes go together. Whether thought comes with going slowly or quickly perhaps depends upon each perspn.
Meanwhile, in a rown or city, it is handy to bear in mind a phrase used by Pepeys and Dr. Johnson: "take the wal': that is, the person with the wall on the right moves towards it when encountering somebody from the opposite direction. This prevents collision and argument - or, at least, it did before the advent of cellphones
4
@Christopher Hawtreelking
I have one important rule when walking, Never give your back to traffic.( Or the ocean waves ) In other words , always see what is coming.
4
Come and do your study in Manhattan. All New Yorkers walk extremely fast and with purpose, no matter if walking alone or with someone. Mothers with carriages are amazingly fast.
Contrast that with the tourists especially in busy midtown where New Yorkers meet tourists from the U.S. and around the world. The “ rules of the walk” are all jumbled;” stay to the right, keep a constant pace, don’t stop quickly in the middle of the sidewalk, don’t hold hands with more than two people, and don’t amble or keep looking to the sky.
New Yorkers don’t appreciate human gridlock and hate being slowed down.
Your study would be amazing in its study of contrasts. No one can keep up with us.
22
Uh no. They’re the same as anywhere else.
3
Interesting but my wife and I walk differently when together or alone and differently depending on the task. The overwhelming majority of our walking is off pavement and both of us hate to walk on hard surfaces like cities and will do anything to avoid it. She likes to walk just to walk. I rarely walk just to walk but do enjoy walking when working, hunting or having an objective (such as hiking). Alas, these days, when mentoring young people, middle aged or even trained athletes over the often uneven ground while hunting, I walk most of them to exhaustion in a half day even at my age approaching 70. Somehow walking on rough terrain saps the strength and will of those used to flat surfaces whether a sidewalk or a football field. Something about having to have much better balance seems to be the problem. Wherever we walk together, we walk at about the same brisk pace and in cities, find a large number of people who walk slowly, are absorbed in their thoughts or i phones and are completely ignoring their surroundings. Walking in the woods or fields, where it is likely you will actually see a bear or other predator like a wolf, along with any number of other wildlife, you pay attention to your surroundings. We carry that same awareness to our city walking.
5
So when the researchers were studying these pairs/groups of men and women walking, did they factor in the types of shoes they wore? Since they excluded people who were obviously attired for exercise, what kind of shoes were the women in the study wearing? That makes a big difference in how fast anyone can comfortably walk.
10
This is an interesting topic, although I would have liked much more data for analysis than presented here. As my wife and I go on vacations together finally, walking is often a subject of some mild debate - she tends to walk slowly but labors to keep pace and I walk fast but slow down with difficulty. Although we take different points of view regarding the mechanism of these differences, she thinks walking has to do with the stride length and I think it has to do with steps per minute ( obviously it is the product of these two), we noticed that people in Northern Europe walk much faster than us Americans. Even women alone in Norway tend to walk faster than me walking alone, even when I am on business walking to an objective. I attributed that to the cold weather, but noticed the same thing in Southern Europe. In the U.S. we usually walk only as a leisure activity, except in some major cities, so our pace is generally slower even walking alone. The point is this type of study is interesting and walking pace has cultural and geographic factors.
11
@Narasi Sridhar
Could it be that most probably people in the states are fat ?
In India, walking is the predominant exercise especially for my parents generation(now in their 70s). Every evening, they stroll around in their little retirement community, stopping to chat and catch up with fellow walkers.
My dad calls it his “ walkie- talkie”
29
After reading about this “ho hum” research, I immediately went to YouTube and rewatched Monty Python’s “Ministry of Silly Walks” sketch for the hundredth time. Much more fun.
26
When I walk with my wife I slow down my speed in synchronisation with her. When in group, we tend to walk slowly since we talk while walking along with them.
When walking with the children if they are hungry naturally we have to walk fast to a nearby restaurant. If we are in a hurry to catch a bus or train then we walk faster than normal.
Where there is no sidewalk if we have to walk on road, then our speed automatically comes down since we have to check the traffic and then walk.
When women walk, they tend to walk slowly when compared with men. There are certain women who walk faster than other women.
3
Walking my dog, daily, forces me to smell the flowers while he smells the grass blades and the sidewalk's 2 week history of who's been where. Rain snow shine sub zero temps, he walks everyday and yes it is slow paced but it is so full of experiencing nature at its season's best. Sometimes I am in a hurry and he understands, but he examines the blade of grass or a branch with so much data gathering sniffs, that I can only slow down, marvel and allow him to do what he is designed to. (He is part beagle so its all about his nose).
44
@Petey Tonei Yes - I walk my two dogs every day, and must allow for their examination of 'pee-mail' - especially in the first 15 minutes of the walk. After that, I, and the 13-yr-old, just follow the 5-yr-old and where his fancy might take him. We dream along, and return to reality only when there is a road to cross or another dog to greet.
3
When walking with others, I tend to walk slowly because I'm busy conversing as I walk. When I'm by myself, I walk fast because I have someplace to go and because I don't want to connect with those around me. This applies especially when I'm in an urban environment. I slow down when I'm in a suburban environment.
9
Despite the scoffing of some commenters, this is actually a very interesting topic, with varied personal and social ramifications.
As it happens, speed of walking when walking with other people is a QUITE stressful thing in my life!! I naturally walk quite slowly, but when with other people, I feel very pressured to speed up. However, the ensuing gait is really uncomfortable for me. So then I tell people to just go ahead, but they seem to think this would be rude, so then they'll hover about four paces ahead of me, and sort of angle sideways and monitor my progress through side-eyes, which is STILL stressful to me, because I still feel pressured to speed up. Therefore, if there is any way at all that I can avoid walking with other people, I absolutely do it.
Then there's the fact that swift walkers generally seem to think that their fast gait somehow makes them superior people. This is evident from rolled eyes, under the breath utterances, and similar sounds of annoyance. Such people are FAR too important, apparently, to be held up by even a fraction of a second when moving from point A to B.
So yeah - this is not a worthless topic. Walking speed, alone or with other people, DOES matter, DOES affect people, and DOES reflect how we are as humans. I'd be interested to see the results of further investigations.
56
@HeidiK I think you demonstrate @WinstonGalt's point and that your "theories" are even more speculative and subjective as some posed in this article, i.e., men are competitive with other men when they walk. Interesting hypotheses but doesn't ring true to my experience
@HeidiK couldn’t you just walk a little faster? That’s what ive learned to do.
"They did not include people who obviously were walking for exercise." How was that determined? Since they didn't interview anyone, they must have guessed. Not very reliable at all.
3
@arkaydia I'm assuming individuals who were in workout gear and/or doing a brisk walk moving their arms vigourosly, like the old women in your neighbourhood
7
I can attest that my mom always walked fast when I was a child. It was always about moving fast and on to the next thing. Now, she can't keep up with the pace she's set for her three (now adult) children--we (gently) give her a hard time about it.
4
What is the point of doing a study of walking speed? What use is the conclusion to us? i know that when i walk in NYC I tend to walk faster than anywhere else but that's because i'm following the pace of the city. So what?
1
@Irene B
It explains something about how we socialize which is the most important thing that we do. Also if you travel to another country you want to know what is normal expected behavior. Americans are notorious for expecting about three feet of air space around them. This walking fast shows we are more competitive and task driven than we are social, yet lack of social connections fuels a lot if societal problems.
27
Well people in Seattle have to walk fast--or run for their lives because those bicyclists don't give a darn if they barrel right over you.
25
You bet! There are a lot of Democrat-run cities you wouldn't catch me slow-walkin' in.
Almost qualifying as stationary objects, at the very bottom end of the spectrum are tourists in New York, walking five abreast around Rockefeller Center - though I have a feeling their pace back home doesn't differ greatly.
34
1,700 people seems like an inadequate sample size, especially when looking at just two locations. I'm curious, for example, if the Seattle location is near an elementary school, which may explain the relatively faster walk with kids.
1
The temperature makes a difference, too. I walk much faster in cold weather (as does my husband ). Perhaps some of the geographical distinctions mentioned in the article are influenced by weather as well.
19
One of the first things I learned in Uganda, thanks to a helpful fellow-student, was to cross the street slowly. My instinct, and that of many Westerners I suspect, is to assume that the safest way to cross a street full of motorcycles zipping around buses, driven by people who seem to have their own ideas about the applicability of traffic "suggestions", is to cross as quickly as possible, minimizing time in the street. In fact, it's better to go slowly so that all the drivers can see you and swerve around you.
38
I lived in Liberia, West Africa and my observations of they walked in 1977 when I was there was different then the way we walk. Their gate being distinct at the time I could point out with the accuracy of Sherlock Homes Liberians walking in the US. In Liberia it is tropical and most of the rural people walked everywhere. Often they walked with loads on their heads without the use of hands.
When they walked with me they walked my pace as I recall mostly men and boys walked with me. Hurray to the researchers who noted purpose, sex and culture. All walking is good, but not all walking is a health walk of fitness.
Studies on the impact of climate and weather would add information. Interesting read
13
could also vary with age - I liked a kid's comment:
'old people stop and look at beautiful things like flowers' ...
tonight I went for a stroll in a strange city and stopped frequently to snap interesting shots of night lights against a darkening blue sky - fascinating - to me ...
23
Well there’s a study that proves nothing. Observing random people and coming up with theories about their walking speed...
16
Not every study needs to prove something to be worth doing.
7
Stride length, body weight, fitness level, cultural affinity need to be taken into account. Study is not particularly useful. Probably just excuse to acquire "research" grant money.
36
Considering the amount of times I have been stuck behind pokey people with kids, I am taking this one with a grain of salt.
18
I think that the only takeaway from this article (which was a waste of time that I'll never get back) was the comment from the researcher that men walk more quickly with other men due to a "competitive" element.
This comment - with absolutely no evidence to back up the claim - is a pretty good demonstration as to how "scientific" studies can so easily be riddled with the biases and bigotries of the researcher.
62
@Winston Galt. Men are competitive with other men. Right. Explains so much.
Exhibit A: “Climate science.”
Gee, who'd have guessed... I suppose it would be useful info to program an AI down the road.
1
Did the researchers take height into account? My wife is shorter than me, and her legs much shorter. She often asks me to slow down. It would seem pointless to attribute cultural and gender influences to the walking speed of groups, if you don’t first control for the slowest walker, who might have short legs.
30
@Eric F. Frazier I have short legs at 5'7" and usually walking ahead of those with me. I don't think it has anything to do with leg length.
4
@Eric F. Frazier I'm 5'2" with short legs and a long torso, my husband is 5'11". I walk faster than him. I just like walking fast and he likes strolling.
1
More guessing by the unemployable who live off of tax dollars. If you get grant money, you have to publish something to keep the money coming in. Sitting all day and making assumptions about people's behavior without data sure beats having a real job and contributing to society. Next, they write a book and show up on talk shows. If they are physically presentable and Leftist enough, they may score a gig as a talking head on CNN or MSNBC.
8
"And Americans walk faster with children, whereas Ugandans move more leisurely."
I called attention to the misuse of the word "leisurely" quite a while ago. My comment has not been published, and the sentence beneath the headline remains.
"Leisurely" is one of those -ly adjectives like "lovely," "comely," and "homely." You don't move leisurely; you take a leisurely walk.
20
@B.Leisurely is an adverb.
9
@B.
How about "They walk at a more leisurely pace."
@Becky
PS.
I hope you mean that "leisurely" is both an adjective and an adverb. It isn't just an adverb. It is what I said: an -ly adjective. And nowadays, I grant you, it is also an adverb. But not exclusively.
And THIS is what is called 'research' with good money spent? So, how does this improve ANYONE'S life or does anyone care. It is what it is!
27
Not sure why the professor panned the exercise walkers. If she didn't want their stats to skew her general study, she could've kept a separate account. I would be more interested in the findings for exercisers.
4
For me it seems stride length plays an important role in how you walk. Men are generally taller than women so they will appear to walk faster in the company of other men. It isn't some competitive thing, it's simply physiological. There is also a difference in strolling, walking, and walking for exercise. When you are on a date you want to be cool and easy going. When walking for exercise, like I do, you move really fast. And as much as you want to be slower and relaxed with your kids, the truth is you are usually running to get to the next thing. You are moving quickly because, typically, you are running late.
34
@Athelstan
What then accounts for the difference in speed between men in US and men in Uganda? Or the fact that US men walk faster in the presence of other men than alone?
Those walking for exercise were excluded from the studied walkers.
2
The relationship between stride length and speed isn't that straightforward. All other things being equal, longer legs tend toward producing fewer but longer strides per minute---roughly the same result as you get treating the leg as a pendulum. The net result that there is rather little variance with leg length.
It may be a bit easier to see this watching dogs. The quick little steps of toy dogs don't let them keep up with a running greyhound, of course, but their walking paces aren't that far apart.
Maybe for Westerners walking is more about the destination than about the process of walking for its own sake. Maybe Westerners are just trying to get somewhere, especially when with kids - there are a lot of "activities" we take our kids to that require rushing and sticking to a schedule. The "slow life" of taking a pleasant walk with your kids without rushing, or letting them enjoy unstructured, leisurely time is disappearing. Western lives, especially city lives, are just a lot more structured and controlled, hence the patterns of walking. To avoid some of this cultural discrepancy, the authors of the study should've compared two towns of similar size and type in the two countries. Seattle and Mukono are way too different on their own to be equal partners in a study, so of course their citizens would behave differently. Maybe next time pick a similarly small town in the US as well, or a large African city somewhere.
16
This is an interesting study. It might also be interesting to observe whether or not people coordinate their pace to match that of those with whom they walk. I have informally watched groups of students walking together across the Queens College campus between classes and it seems that they tend to fall into pace with one another, almost as precisely as a marching band. If those hunches of mine were to be shown valid with systematic studies, I think it'd be interesting to examine the extent to which it's culturally determined.
I use to walk my two Shih Tzu's for a couple of miles every day, and I did watched them more carefully than I watched the students. They definitely walked apace, even though one dog had slightly longer legs than the other.
2
I notice that there are regional differences among Americans with regard to their pace when they walk. I live in the South and become frustrated when I am walking in public. I usually walk at a quicker pace than those around me and it is a challenge for me to walk behind one or more 'slow walkers'. I feel much more at home in larger cities (e.g. New York) where my relatively brisk pace of walking is more likely to be the norm.
63
@John M. I know! And not only do they walk slow, they drive as if it's their first time, every time. Most of the people in my town should have that bumper sticker that says: "Zero to sixty in 10 -15 minutes." I prefer people who drive as if they know how - as if they actually have a destination in mind.
6
@John M.
It’s hot down here! We don’t want to get heatstroke before we get there. You have to find a pace where you don’t overheat. I’m often the slowest hiker, and often the last one standing. Slow & steady keeps you going longer.
2