WALK Magazine

You Know you Are a Walker When….

You know you are a walker when you take pictures of your new shoes to share with your online friends.
You know you are a walker when your running shoe expenditure is more than three-fourths of your yearly clothing budget. And you take pictures of your new shoes to share with your online friends.

Crossing a busy street recently made me think about Canadian racewalkers, and I just had to smile.

In 2007 I found the walking section of Canada’s Running Room/Walking Room online forums. The members of the forum were avid and accomplished walkers and the group had a great sense of humor!

Back then they had a running list of “You know you are a walker when…” that was fantastic! Lucky for me the group generously allowed me to reprint some of the list in the Summer 2007 issue of WALK! Magazine.

My favorite, and the one that keeps popping in my head, is:

You know you are a walker when you refuse to run across the street when the light turns yellow because that would be cheating.

Because we are in the middle of a cold and gray winter throughout much of the United States and Canada, I thought we could all use a smile and some motivation to keep walking. I hope you enjoy a few from the list.

You know you are a walker when…

  • your friends and family have to sprint to keep up with you in the mall.
  • you consistently reset the odometer on your car “just to see the distance” of wherever you go.
  • your running shoe expenditure is more than three-fourths of your entire yearly clothing budget.
  • you spend your time on the Internet searching for races that have a walking category.
  • you routinely use duct tape on areas that would confuse and possibly shock others.
  • you proudly announce “I’m walking the half marathon,” not “I’m JUST walking the half marathon.”
  • you are finishing a race and someone on the sidelines yells, “start running, you’re almost there,” and you just laugh to yourself and continue walking powerfully to the finish line (passing
    You are out in the pouring rain because it is your long slow distance day.
    You are out in the pouring rain because it is your long slow distance day. (My addition.)

    several tired runners along the way).

  • you’re willing to spend more on a single pair of blister-preventing socks than you used to spend on earrings.
  • someone yells out “great form walker” to you during a race because they can tell you’re a walker and not a runner on a walk break.

So, how many of these fit you? And what are your additions?

Thanks again, Canadian walkers!

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