Walking Jogging ShuffleJog - I ain't a jogger

Generally in the winter we'll get some nice sunny days with light breeze and cold temperatures.  Come February, after the typical miserable January weather here in the Big Town of Savage, I'll get the urge to bundle up a bit and take a walk around town and occasionally I'll drag my ol' camera along with me.

The main street in Savage is Baltimore Street.  When I was a kid Baltimore street intersected with Rt 1 on the east end, the main Baltimore - Washington corridor and felt like it was a mile long until it ended at Fair Street on the west end.  In actuality, it was about .9 miles from end to end.

Evidently I was on a walkabout in February 2004 when I took the photo above.  The shot was taken from Fair Street looking east down Baltimore Street through the town of Savage.  I'd retired a month earlier and obviously needed to get outside for some exercise.  I normally get most of my exercise from walking.

When I was working over at No Such Agency, I would park the truck at the outer edge of the parking lot and walk in and out of the building.  Once in the building, I'd try to take the steps rather than the elevator.  Fortunately, my last office was only 2 floors up, although they did seem to be rather high floors with many steps between.

Walking around the Big Town of Savage built on the sides of the Little Patuxent River and the hills of central Maryland can be a daunting task if you choose a route to test your endurance.  At the time of this photo, I was about 63 years old.  Today I am 72 years old and my walks around town tend to be along routes that don't require climbing these hills.

So, winter walks around town and summer walks behind the mulching mower comprise most of my exercise (then there's traversing the aisles at Costco and Sams Club).  It usually takes me about 1.25 hours to mow.  Mowing is a task that has to be done regularly, so at least once a week, usually more frequently, I get decent exercise mowing from March thru November.  Winter is a different story and I have to constantly urge myself out for a walk.

Notice that at no time did I mention jogging.  When I was an elementary school kid here in the old mill town of Savage, I seemingly ran every place I went, never ran out of breath and just loved it.  As a teen, much, much less running.  Come driver's license time at 16, NO running and increased weight.

The last time I recall running was actually jogging during basic training out in Fort Knox, KY.  They made it even more fun by giving you a back pack and making you wear boots.  Sure burned off the calories, if nothing else.  So there you have it, I enjoy walking, especially around the hills of Savage, but have no intention of ever jogging/running again, even to get across the road to escape from a fast approaching crazy driver.

JD, laying back and waiting to complete mowing of the yard today.  Yep, in this HOT/HUMID weather I tend to spread mowing over 2 days, about 45 minutes each outing.

PS - The thing I don't really understand is this form of running that has motion like jogging without the speed of jogging.  The speed seems comparable to a medium walking speed.  It appears to me that these people want to feel like they're jogging but don't want to put out the effort to go faster.  Wouldn't it be much simpler if they were just walking; they'd get there just as quickly.  I don't know what that's called, but I call it shuffling along.  Appears to me shuffling is harder on your joints than walking and gets you there no quicker.

I have noticed one thing tho; shuffling requires the wearing of athletic type clothes and shoes, while walking can be done in most any kind of clothing and some good walking shoes.  I'll keep pondering that one as I watch the shufflers on the sidewalk in front of my house here in The Big Town of Savage.