It became very quiet very quickly about my self-chosen position in our society as a pedestrian lobbyist, because I had to drive a lot over the summer before they lock everything up again and as a freelancer I look stupid again as the first, easiest way to save something. But in September I finally allowed myself the Watzmann crossing, for which I was too late last year because I had waited for other people, which frankly shouldn’t be done at my age. It was wonderful. I waited for the end of the Bavarian vacation, went during the week, and where else up to over 300 people during the day sanded the limestone, met on this day less than a tenth of them repeatedly in their various break cascades. I ran just under 25 km: up the mountain, over the mountain, down from the mountain, back to the motorcycle with which I had traveled .

The next day I felt very good. I had expected all sorts of niggles (again, I have to state my advanced age here). But the body didn’t complain about anything, just allowed itself an increased amount of sleep of 12 hours owed to getting up very early. In a good mood I strolled through the Berchtesgadener Land towards home with the little KTM 25 Adventure (test). The Watzmann had shown me how good it is to run and reminded me how much I neglect it against my better judgment. Since then I have been accompanying my wife back home every day on the Rudelgassi over the hills of our valley.

Praise the running! Running would actually be a “no-brainer”, as the American says. The current state of science: running activates the brain and its supply. You’re only half awake when you’re sitting. Running makes you feel better. Taking a walk is therefore one of the simplest, most effective and side-effect-free treatment methods for depression patients. Running is part of the orientation and memory system. That is why masters of memorization sort their data in virtual places (“memory palaces”). If you run a lot, you even become a better person and vice versa, as Stephan et al 2018 found in a study on five personality dimensions. In addition, you run outside, and the outside also makes you happier and healthier. You can find the entire state of research on running in Shane O’Mara’s “In Praise of Walking” (German and twice as expensive as “Das Glück des Gehens”).

Footpaths are mostly the most beautiful ways.

(Image: Clemens Gleich)

There is nothing negative to say about running except one thing: It takes time. Since we believe we don’t have time for this because we need them to piss them off on Facebook, this is the whole reason to whistle about being human and to stay in the dark, in front of the search engine of anti-social media, which is common to everyone Studies on this show unhappy power. The tragedy of modern man is concentrated in the absurd when, after a day in the work cubicle, he drives into another cubicle in a closed driving cubicle, where he then trots on the treadmill staring at a screen.

Change in lifestyle instead of just change in traffic So when we think about how we can improve our mobility one thought should be at the top: How can we be so mobile that we are doing as well as possible in the long term? Of course you will feel better in the short term if you go to one place – whack! – go by car. How fast it went! I have things to do to travel to. But in the long run it makes you more unhappy. No really. That shouldn’t surprise us, because many short-term lucky donors are unhealthy: Smoking crack makes you extremely happy in the short term, but not in the long term. Or a little less extreme: Nutella. Give me a jar of Nutella and I’ll be satisfied for an hour or two like Ruthe’s squirrel with a spoon. After a brief period of happiness, however, comes the crash that would not have happened with a healthy, mixed breakfast. Mobility is no exception to this rule. Today we know enough about species-appropriate living that we should actually make cities as suitable for walking as possible.