Week Two: an Idea and a Theme

This week has slowly helped me to develop my study theme, so now that I’ve got a better handle on what I want to study it should be simpler to follow.

It’s already become apparent that without a car, walking has become much more important. My irritation with busses has led to a vague sense of preference for walking, at least for small trips. I walked just under five miles to pick up some cheap colored pencils the other day without any hesitation. On average, I’m walking an average of at least four miles a day, in addition to running.

That alone speaks to the casual emphasis on fitness here. In the States, everything is much more spread out, thus making it more difficult to walk from place to place. The hub of activity in the city isn’t surrounded by nearly as much urban sprawl as it is in the states, meaning that the city is more condensed and the countryside is emptier.

I’ve also noticed that public transportation isn’t looked at in the same way. It’s taken very frequently by students and businesspeople, as well as families going on outings. Not only is this true for Dundee, but also for Edinburgh. I’ve noticed that public transit in, say, Chicago, is fairly different and much more difficult to navigate. The ease of navigation and low cost here make it both affordable and simple. Well…as long as you don’t think about the exchange rate.

Monday I met up with the Tayside Running Sisters, a running group for women of all ages. To begin, they’re an incredible group of women. They were welcoming and friendly, even though I was new and could hardly remember who was who. I got to know a few of them on the run, and it was fantastic to be able to talk to a group of locals again. One of the women, at 70 years old, had just completed a marathon a few weeks previously and is going to be carrying the Queen’s Baton for the Commonwealth Games as it comes through Dundee (6/27/14).

On one of the women’s recommendation, I’m going to be doing a 5k Saturday at Camperdown Park. It’s a timed run, although not an official race. There are results that allow runners to compare their times to others in their age groups, meaning that I should be able to see where I land in comparison. Then again, I’m not a highly trained short distance runner, so it’s not going to be pretty. Regardless, I’m excited to get out and meet people again, and especially excited to be able to practice a race start and determine where I prefer to hang out at a start. The TM was good, but I stayed on the sides in order to avoid the worst of the mud at the start. If I’m seriously considering longer races this year, I should get the practice on shorter races. More updates on how it goes next week.

In addition to the more apparent presence of casual fitness I’ve seen in the city, there are also many examples that can be seen in the countryside. The accessibility of the land seems to make it much more appealing to go out for a long walk, and so I plan to investigate the when and why of hiking over the next few weeks.

Sitting and relaxing in the park or taking laps in the park has also proved to be useful. It’s possible to sit and watch people in the park without being observed, which means nobody changes their actions based on the fact that they’re being observed (I swear, it’s so much less creepy in real life). Exercise patterns are in evidence both in young and old people, although middle aged people definitely seem to be lacking. Younger people, who I would say are probably college aged or younger, are often playing sports, whereas older people are often walking.

So far, much of what I'm gathering is merely through comparative observation. We'll see where it leads.