This week’s Walk It Off features me and a guest stopping in the middle of our walk to enjoy some 11am pizza. How do you reward yourself when you go out for a walk? Maybe it isn’t every time, but what’s a little treat that you like to enjoy while you’re putting one foot in front of the other? I personally like to mix it up, but top favorites include iced coffee, a small ice-cream cone, or, of course, a cold beer. But let me know how you like to make your walks a little more delicious. 🍦
Our walks occur in the evenings just before dinner as a way to officially separate work from home during WFH and they always occur with a gum ball in the mouth and another in the pocket to swap out at our halfway point. The walk itself in Central Park is sensory overload so there's certainly no need to add anything on top but occasionally we'll see a pop-up shop on Instagram and wander over to check it out. Upon our return from the walk is when the deliciousness sets in, quite literally I might add: we make dinner! Cue up Song Quiz on the Google Home and we'll play multiple rounds through all the decades while we dance and dine in our kitchen. I love reading all the other posts and I have to agree, a Diet Coke from McDonald's is quite simply the best.
My top two (here in BK) are either to stop by Four and Twenty Blackbirds for a slice of pie or drop into this small Japanese pop-up shop to pick up the newest snack they stocked! Either one I like to do at the end of the walk as a way to say “I’m home!”
When I take my dog for her first walk of the day, I incorporate two sensory rewards for myself. I love the sound of running water, so I always walk her along a path in Prospect Park that has two very small waterfalls. Then, when we leave the park, I make sure to walk her down 8th Avenue where there is a particular rose bush with enormous, white blooms. I feel like a cliche writing this, and it's something I never did before last spring . . . But when I get to that bush I slow down -- onlookers be damned -- and smell the roses.
My walks were generally over lunch, so I'll pick up a cold brew (season independent) about 1/4 of the way in and snarf something at my desk when I get home, the walk being significantly more integral to my workflow than avoiding sad-desk-lunch.
When not afforded a lunchtime walk, my morning/evening constitutional (different route) treat generally tends to be "10 minutes of guilt free tiktok time at the midway point," useful as both a breather and a reward.
Usually do iced coffee or chai and a bakery item. Sometimes I'll switch it up and intentionally go for a walk and pick up dinner from somewhere I'm craving on the walk back. I may meander into a bookstore and leave with something on the not-so-rate occasion.
I walk early in the a.m. in a rural place, so nothing delicious is out there. But I do have a couple of podcasts I enjoy and I dig into an English muffin and a coffee as soon as I'm back in the door.
Hi Isaac! I just bought a paid subscription to this letter after having utterly loved the interview with Raven Leilani which had a texture unlike many other author interviews i have read...same with John Wray. I just loved these discussions and felt motivated to walk. I would love to see Nadia Owusu, the memoirist and fiction writer, featured on one of these walks (she lives in Brooklyn too!) as well as (if you are ever in Georgia) Anjali Enjeti. I also would really love to see Emma Straub, the agent Julie Barer, the writer Ruman Alaam, and several other writers, including Alice Sola Kim, Mira Jacob, Tanais, Hanif Abdurraqib, Kiese Laymon, Deesha Philyaw (can some of these be done as zooming walks? where you are walking together while talking over zoom on a handheld phone or even via just audio via headset while walking??). I would really also love to hear you talk with Hala Alyan. These are my requests as a subscriber. I will stay tuned eager for any of these but also the wish to be surprised!
Our walks occur in the evenings just before dinner as a way to officially separate work from home during WFH and they always occur with a gum ball in the mouth and another in the pocket to swap out at our halfway point. The walk itself in Central Park is sensory overload so there's certainly no need to add anything on top but occasionally we'll see a pop-up shop on Instagram and wander over to check it out. Upon our return from the walk is when the deliciousness sets in, quite literally I might add: we make dinner! Cue up Song Quiz on the Google Home and we'll play multiple rounds through all the decades while we dance and dine in our kitchen. I love reading all the other posts and I have to agree, a Diet Coke from McDonald's is quite simply the best.
BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE!! The New Orleans iced coffee is so good. I actually had one earlier today before going back home.
My top two (here in BK) are either to stop by Four and Twenty Blackbirds for a slice of pie or drop into this small Japanese pop-up shop to pick up the newest snack they stocked! Either one I like to do at the end of the walk as a way to say “I’m home!”
My walk is in the absolute peace and quiet of the forest for a couple hours with my 3 dogs.
Then I get home and drive 20 minutes for a large diet coke from McDonald's 👍🏾
When I take my dog for her first walk of the day, I incorporate two sensory rewards for myself. I love the sound of running water, so I always walk her along a path in Prospect Park that has two very small waterfalls. Then, when we leave the park, I make sure to walk her down 8th Avenue where there is a particular rose bush with enormous, white blooms. I feel like a cliche writing this, and it's something I never did before last spring . . . But when I get to that bush I slow down -- onlookers be damned -- and smell the roses.
Ice cream cone/sandwich !! Bonus points on a hot, sunny day.
Boba tea!
My walks were generally over lunch, so I'll pick up a cold brew (season independent) about 1/4 of the way in and snarf something at my desk when I get home, the walk being significantly more integral to my workflow than avoiding sad-desk-lunch.
When not afforded a lunchtime walk, my morning/evening constitutional (different route) treat generally tends to be "10 minutes of guilt free tiktok time at the midway point," useful as both a breather and a reward.
Usually do iced coffee or chai and a bakery item. Sometimes I'll switch it up and intentionally go for a walk and pick up dinner from somewhere I'm craving on the walk back. I may meander into a bookstore and leave with something on the not-so-rate occasion.
I walk early in the a.m. in a rural place, so nothing delicious is out there. But I do have a couple of podcasts I enjoy and I dig into an English muffin and a coffee as soon as I'm back in the door.
It’s not a real walk unless I have inexplicably spent $5-7 on some sort of beverage
Hi Isaac! I just bought a paid subscription to this letter after having utterly loved the interview with Raven Leilani which had a texture unlike many other author interviews i have read...same with John Wray. I just loved these discussions and felt motivated to walk. I would love to see Nadia Owusu, the memoirist and fiction writer, featured on one of these walks (she lives in Brooklyn too!) as well as (if you are ever in Georgia) Anjali Enjeti. I also would really love to see Emma Straub, the agent Julie Barer, the writer Ruman Alaam, and several other writers, including Alice Sola Kim, Mira Jacob, Tanais, Hanif Abdurraqib, Kiese Laymon, Deesha Philyaw (can some of these be done as zooming walks? where you are walking together while talking over zoom on a handheld phone or even via just audio via headset while walking??). I would really also love to hear you talk with Hala Alyan. These are my requests as a subscriber. I will stay tuned eager for any of these but also the wish to be surprised!