Lifestyle: walking speed

Self-tutoring about the pedestrian life: the tutor mentions walking speed.

When I’m out for a walk, not in a hurry, I am a slow walker. I say this because people often pass me, or outwalk me, in such a scenario. To be polite to my fellow pedestrians, I am always careful to make it easy for people to walk past me. This all being said, I don’t personally feel I walk slowly; it’s just that I seem to relative to other people.

When I’m trying to get somewhere, on the other hand, I walk much more quickly. Such is the case when I’m on the way to or from class or work. Yesterday, en route to work, I thought I was making pretty good time. Suddenly, someone passed me going my same way on the sidewalk who seemed to be around 10 years or more older than I. Because of the shoes they were wearing, and their light, easy gait, I never heard them coming behind me; they just suddenly stepped beside me, then in front. The gap between us grew steadily from there.

What’s strange to me is that they didn’t seem to be walking quickly; they weren’t swinging their arms or making strong movements like a speed walker usually would. Yet, they were walking much faster than I was: soon they were a block ahead, then more.