I’ve said it time and again on this blog: I enjoy walking to the train station after work. It’s a good way to de-stress, and to become mobile again after a long time sitting down at my desk at work. It’s also a great way to reconnect with the city as a whole. I mean, it’s easy to become self-absorbed and feel like the world is limited to work, home, and the usual haunts with friends. The city is so much bigger, and wider than that. I enjoy walking through the different neighbourhoods and taking in their differing atmospheres. Chinatown is different from the university campus, which feels different from the Annex, which is different from the upscale boutiques on Bloor West. It’s fascinating. From a streetcar you can see it all, but it’s different from actually taking in the sights and listening to the din of traffic and human interaction. Usually I’m in no hurry to get back home, so my walks are fairly relaxed.

Anyway, I’m writing about all of this tonight because after tonight’s walk along University Ave and around Queen’s Park Circle I started paying attention to my changing walking habits. For quite a while I’ve just been hiking due north to the first subway station, but lately I’ve been spending more time hiking over another kilometre, two stops over. I think I was starting to think that the walk to my usual stop was too short, so I wanted to pick another location to walk to. In doing so it opened up a couple of new paths for me. Toronto’s road structure is very grid-like so there are a lot of opportunities to vary how I make it to my destination. I’ve actually started walking up St. George through the University of Toronto campus. I would never have gone through that area under normal circumstances–there’s just no reason to. Walking through I can almost feel the idealism and the gathering of ideas among all of the young people I pass by. I know: it sounds crazy. Perhaps I’m just projecting these expectations among all the people there. Who knows?

Another habit that I’ve noticed is the fact that I’ve been running a lot for a lot of stoplights lately. Usually, as I approach a stoplight that’s about to turn I just slow down my walking so that I don’t end up at the intersection just waiting for the time to run down. Like I said, I’m usually not in any hurry, so I’m perfectly content for the next cycle to happen before crossing. Over the past week or two, when I come across an intersection that’s about to turn, instead of slowing down I’ll actually make a dash for it. As soon as I cross, I’m back to my composed usual self. All of the training runs have helped out my cardio tremendously. I can tell that my heart rate really drops down fairly quickly after such bursts of activity. I remember a time when it would take me a long while to get things under control again. I realize that dashing for the light may not always be the safest thing, but it actually makes me feel like I have a bit more control over my walk. I know, it sounds a little bit odd, but that’s how I feel, right?

So, these changes are pretty beneficial. It shows that my health is definitely improving. At the same time, it allows me to explore more parts of the city that have been under a fog in my mental map of the city. It just increases my love of this place I call home.