Sebastian Marshall among other things writes about the pleasures of walking on his blog.
I too am enjoying walking and it is a healthy pleasure that doesn’t have to be enjoyed instead of the pleasures Sebastian compares it too. The comparison is interesting and useful as a change in emphasis but it doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition.
I also find it motivating and enjoyable to collect GPS, heart rate, and map data of my walks from both my Garmin 305 and iPhone apps. This isn’t a distraction from enjoying the walk. It actually provides information for analyzing and enjoying the walk afterwards. Perhaps the options for sharing the information with others will also prove useful for enticing them to participate or discuss our progress.
Sebastian’s meandering thoughts on walking and business also suggest opportunities to combine business and exercise. Sounds very attractive for my project work – to get people in a less stressed environment where perhaps they could be more creative and refreshed? Perhaps it could be less stressful than golf which can cause some people to get too concerned about results. Walking meetings have some potential when you consider recent studies on the health effects of spending too much time sitting at a desk. This could be an expansion of Tony Schwartz’s energy project where he has been encouraging people to enjoy lunch time freedom to get away from the chained to a desk syndrome.