Retirement Hobby: I love Walking!

by DD
(Michigan)

I started by taking long walks with my puppy through the various trails and paths in the woodland in my backyard. This is a county park that also ends up by an elementary school.

This was just, at first, to exercise the pup, but it quickly became a passion for me. Now, we go for daily walks of at least 5 miles.

I've also lost a fair amount off of my gut because of this! I feel so great and alive. I feel like I'm 50 again! I always take my dog with me for these walks and she absolutely loves it.

Some days I like to go out on the old abandoned railroad tracks and let her off leash. She tends to stick fairly close to me.

I find myself sometimes walking the mile and a half back to go the market for a gallon of milk or some other necessity. I cannot believe I like walking so much after being such an automotive enthusiast in my youth.

I feel so full of energy and youth with my walking.

Comments for Retirement Hobby: I love Walking!

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walking with clubs
by: MIKE Canberra

I love walking also, especially with a set of golf clubs, I really like going to the course on quite days by myself and playing 18 holes, I get a 6 KM walk or more if i dont hit the ball straight or in the woods, plus i am using my brain working out which club is best to use and the which strategy is best for each hole.

I can never understand why young guys use golf carts which are sometimes stocked with ample supplies of amber fluid (beer). The over 60s guys I play with love the walk and being out in the open air and having a yarn.
Walking
by: Anonymous

I lost about 120 pounds when I started walking and felt so much better. Presently, my weight fluctuates as I am not consistent with walking. But one good thing is that I have not returned ever to that initial weight before I began walking.

I have managed to stay within a healthy range. I have a dog now, which motivates me to be more consistent. Usually, I struggle with getting out the door but once I am out there, I love it.

I am learning to focus on my surroundings instead of ruminating on stuff going on in my life. I begin by watching my dog as he is so charming the way he sniffs and observes everything. He seems so happy on our walks. That is contagious.
Walking
by: Sherry / Wilmington, NC

I love walking. I walk everyday mostly outside, but inside too on a treadmill when the weather doesn't allow me to be outside.

You can see so many beautiful things outside and hear the birds!

I love to smell the fresh air and I am lucky to live at the seashore and walk on the beach too, seabreeze yeah!!!!

I have met many of my neighbors walking outside; people I would have never met had I not been walking. I met them and their pets too.

I had a dog and he passed over the rainbow bridge last year, he loved to walk. I would say lets go outside and he would go to the kitchen to get his leash. He knew it was in the kitchen. He just loved his walks.

Walking has many benefits; clears the head, helps with depression, lose weight, makes you productive and you feel good too!!

Go ahead and try it, you'll see for yourself and have fun!!
On the subject of Walking.....
by: Anonymous

Thank you friends, I do agree that walking is certainly one of the only free exercises that we are offered today....

I began walking some time ago but had to stop due to a knee problem....now i am back on track and i walk every morning.

It's easy for me as well as i live opposite a park and there are pathways in the middle so i have this opportunity to do my thing....

I leave home around 6.30am and so i walk briskly for at least 30 minutes.

It's great watching the birds gathering their bits & pieces too.....the grass is usually wet with a bit of dew and i notice this as i walk.

So i am grateful for this start for the day....when i return home i usually stretch and do some standing exercises with my arms.

Another great form of exercise is the... Qi Qong,
i also use this daily from off my computer with Lee Holden....he's great it's simple especially good for retirees, it's all about the breath...
So until more comes around...shake the body and live life one day at a time with gratefulness....
Walking and the Importance of Maintaining a Balance
by: Gordon Kinghorn

I enjoyed DD's article on the love of walking very much, the simpler things of life are often overlooked these days - strolling through the greenery of our respective national real estate being one of them – primarily for exercise and fresh air of course, yet, one may also discover the benefits of simply “chewing-things-over” in one’s mind - in splendid isolation – and without the distraction of eternal domestic demands and/or the presence of well- meaning family and friends – the same that secure quite enough of our attention during the course of a lifetime – ah – sweet liberty indeed!

It must be said however, where DD is stimulated by walking in the company of his/her canine companion, I, on the other hand - occasionally struggle in achieving 100% fulfilment from the hiking experience – this has much to do with DD’s choice of partner – after all, choosing doggy companionship is a much more sane alternative to that of carrying a golf bag over miles and miles of whatever fair and pleasant land!!!

Following forty years of playing the game of golf, I now recognise where Mark Twain was coming from when he observed that; “Golf is a Good Walk Spoiled”.

Nevertheless, in the absence of a perky pooch, I shall once again, tomorrow morning, retrieve my Irons, Woods and Putter from the study and hastily make for the first tee – no matter if my golf is Birdie or Bogey, I shall retain a mental note that mind, body and soul are being wholly enriched from striding over the 18-holes that make-up my local club – saunter and swing being the prime ingredients in my quest for longevity

In effect, my desired aim during these years of retirement bliss, is to constantly fill my lungs with wonderful fresh air, this whilst playing regular and stupendous rounds of golf in the company of a beautiful partner… actually, given the fact that I have now turned sixty-one years of age - I think you can keep the fresh air and the rounds of golf – the lady on her own would be stimulus enough!

© 2012 Gordon G Kinghorn

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