Running, not walking

Posted on March 24, 2013

Isn’t it weird that kids run just as often as they walk? And it’s not odd for a kid to skip (once that skill is learned) or twirl or hop or jump to get from point A to point B.

Let me rephrase my opening question. Isn’t it weird that adults hardly ever run or skip or hop or twirl when moving towards a destination? Sure, I know adults go jogging and running, and here and there a person sprints when being chased or playing laser tag or whatever.

But, generally, we adults tend to walk. We may walk briskly, we may amble along, we may go solo or with another adult or two, but we walk.

I have had two exceptions to this walking rule over the last few years.

1. I find myself sprinting to my car on occasion at the end of the day because I’m late leaving for home. Why do I run late sometimes? Well, sometimes it’s because I run (!) into someone as I’m leaving my office and I get involved in a conversation. And sometimes it’s because I have underestimated the time it will take for me to complete just one more task.

But, in general, I run late because I follow Newton’s Laws of Motion: If I’m at rest, I tend to stay at rest, and if I’m moving along in a particular direction, I have trouble transitioning to a new direction.

At any rate, I often run (!) late. And I thus sprint down corridors and through double doors, moving to my car in a click-clack-of-my-heels whirling fury.

2. This winter, I have been freezing, so I run from one building to another or between my car and a building in an attempt to be cold for as short a time period as possible.

One night, I was leaving an event on campus and I started running to my car, and I overtook a family who was also heading to the parking lot. The parents were walking behind while their three children ran ahead. I booked right past those adults and passed the kids (I don’t run fast, but their legs were way shorter than mind), and the kids sped up as they saw that I was beating them. The kids and I were all having a good time! and the parents seemed to enjoy my weirdness on some level, though neither one joined in.

It was that event that made me really notice how often kids run and how infrequently adults do. But it is fun to run. It’s even more fun to skip and hop and twirl. I don’t know that I’ll do any of the latter regularly because they don’t really help me when I’m late and they don’t help when I’m cold. But they do seem like ways of enjoying the journey as much as the destination–which is cliche, I know, but which might occasionally be worth it.

Like when I’m heading to the dentist, it might be good to hop all the way in. Or when the day is a lovely shade of gold and misty, some twirling might be in order when I’m walking from one building to another building.

I don’t think I’m ready to peer pressure anyone into running from point A to point B with me, so that’s a solo activity for now, but I’d consider suggesting hops, twirls, or skips to my friends. It’s making me smile just thinking about it. I’ll see how it goes, and if you try it–well, toss out a comment so you can inspire the rest of us! I can’t think of a better way to move into spring. (Get it? spring?? as in “hop”? hahaha!)