Superior Walking

  For as long as I can remember, I have been walking and walking well. I remember taking my first step as a small baby. It was one of the greatest moments of satisfaction in my life. A few years after taking my first step and with much practice, my friends and family begun to recognize my superior walking skills. It was in that moment that I realized which path in life I would follow; the path of a professional walker.

  I began to practice the art of walking daily. I would always try to incorporate several different techniques and styles into my daily training sessions, for this was the way that the masters had done for thousands of years before me. Soon I started to see dramatic improvements in my walking style. I remember a day when I was walking back and forth in front of my mirror and I starting to limp my left foot every fourth step. That soon after developed into a rare and difficult style of walking called the "limp walk". Only the most superb walkers could perform such a walk with ease.

  In 2007, at the age of 18, I entered myself into a national walking competition. It was an annual event that took place in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The event consisted of an audience, 55 competitors, 5 judges, 1 host and a large stage, on which we would compete. The event started at 12:00 noon and went until 6:00PM. It was a long event, but the time was needed in order for the judges to eliminate the ones that performed the worst while getting closer to determining the winner by evaluating them.

  Hundreds of people from all around Sweden would come to take part in this event. It was a cultural tradition for them. There was food, music, and souvenirs. The event started with an opening band that played for an hour while people got situated. At 1:00PM the music stopped and the competitors lined up on stage. Then the first competitor was chosen to perform and the others left the stage.

  The first competitor to perform was "lead leg Larry". He got that name because he had one leg that weighed twenty pounds more than the other. Popular belief was that it was a birth defect, but no one really knew. His main specialty on stage was the "pivot spin walk" . He would start by putting his heavy leg forward one step then he would push off with his other leg causing himself to do a complete 360 degree pivot on his heavy leg. His second walk was called the "fallback". In this walk he would flex his entire body fall backwards, let the weight of his leg bring him back up, hop forward and repeat. This was a unique walk given that he was the only person capable of doing it due to his uneven body weight.

  It was getting towards the end of the competition and there were only two competitors left; Jim and I. Jim was a world renowned walker, known mostly for his ability to walk as fast as he could without actually running. He did this by walking at a medium speed for several minutes then slowly getting faster and faster until he reached the "speed walk". The "speed walk" was a 25 mph walk. It was one of the worlds most difficult walks to perform.

  Jim entered the stage as crowd went wild. He calmly walked towards the center of the stage and stopped, facing the crowd. It was as if he had stopped in time. He stayed still for almost 15 seconds. The crowd went quiet. No one knew what to expect. All of a sudden he threw his body to the left and started walking fast. He walked faster and faster. Within 5 seconds of walking he had reached a speed of 28mph. The crowd went wild. He continued at this speed circling the perimeter of the stage. It was by far the best performance anyone had seen in a long time and for that he was ranked 10 out of 10, which meant in order for me to win I would also have to achieve a score of 10. If we both scored a 10 we would have to engage in a one on one battle for the judges to determine the winner.

  It was now my time to perform. I entered the stage, walked to the center and faced the crowd. The light went green and I started to walk. I started with my original "limp walk", which I had developed in my early years of walking. I did that for a few minutes then out of the blue I began to improvise. I jumped, threw my left leg up in front of me, threw it back down then did that with my other leg. I did this for a while then as a final walk I jumped up, landed on my behind and began to hop on it; the crowd went insane and began clapping harder than ever.

  The judges submitted their rankings. I was given a score of 10, which meant I had to go one on one with Jim. Jim joined me on the stage. The light turned green and we started to battle. Jim started with a combination of his speed walk with a hop every five steps. I started with a one leg hop with an occasional 360 jump. Our time was up and judges determined the winner to be me. I turned to Jim and butt hopped right by him, while giving him a look of contentment. It was the the greatest day of my life.