I walked the 15k event in the 33rd Eurasia Marathon this Sunday in about 140 minutes. This means that Vincent Kiplagat of Kenya followed me into Gülhane Park on his way to first place in the 42.2 km race (2:10:58). Crossing the finish line of the 15k amidst the applause for the world’s best marathoners is like sleep walking onto stage and waking up and realizing you have no script. You just keep walking.
Sunday’s brisk walk has given me the idea to add a couple of long work-outs to my weekly routine. This could mean a 5-6 hour bike ride one week and a 3-4 hour walk the next. The routes for long bike rides are pretty obvious – up the Bosphorus and back, along the Asian and European shores of the Marmara Sea, and up the Golden Horn and the Sweet Waters of Europe (the Alibeyköy and Kağıthane Rivers).
The walking routes are not so obvious to me. I want novelty in each walk. Visually engaging surroundings should distract me (and hopefully my walking companions) from the heaviness in our legs. I want to walk with abandon rather than concentrating on car traffic or other pedestrians. If time passes too slowly, I can focus my thoughts on breath, pace, posture, and any number of spiritual, professional, or romantic riddles.
Photo: The Bosphorus, north of Tarabya
We all know, of course, that it’s impossible to find a path in Istanbul where you can “walk on automatic pilot,” but surely we can trace a route that will offer an acceptable balance of physical obstacles and open spaces.
One goal of my new “endurance walking” regimen is to follow the ridge that runs parallel to the Bosphorus. My guess is that it’s about 20 km from Taksim through Levent and Maslak all the way to Çayırova (just south of Sarıyer, where Büyükdere Street ends). The ridge has a “spur,” which extends from Mecidiyeköy to Hasköy via Çağlayan and Okmeydanı. Urban trekking.
But why should the urban trekker’s path always be linear? Why not a series of concentric circles spiraling out from Taksim?
How tight can the spiral be at its core? Taksim Square-Taksim Gezi (Promende) Park-Talimhane-Kazancı Yokuşu-Gümüşsuyu-Taksim. Gradually the spiral will expand to include Okmeydanı, Eğrikapı and Karagümrük in Fatih, Harem, Salacak, and Üsküdar. In principle, each circuit should be completed within a single walk. Some walks could last 8-12 hours. Preferably at a good pace. It’s good to feel tired!
Photo: The view from Okmeydanı
Anyone who runs, walks, or bikes knows that the city looks different from the street. In a certain sense the city becomes more visible with each person who abandons the automobile for the pedestrian way. The more pedestrians, bikers, and wheelchair rollers there are on the streets, the more people actually see the city, its composition and the big picture.
