At a height of 5'7", I definitely don't face tall girl struggles to as extreme of an extent as Jodi in the movie "Tall Girl" (I can, in fact, wear women's Nikes), but these long legs result in one problem that causes paramount distress on a daily basis.
I am a very fast walker.
And while there are some benefits to fast walking, like getting to places more quickly and the exciting possibility of entering the Olympics as a speed-walker, my super-fast pace is actually quite detrimental. With all the free time I've had arriving at destinations hours before my friends, I've started a list of the multiple pains I experience as a fast walker.
1. The shin pain
We all know the ache that shows up in that part of your shin right above your ankle when you are straining to walk as fast as you possibly can. This is me all the time.2. Getting caught behind groups of slow walkers
We also all know how irritating it is to get stuck behind a group of people walking slower than you, even more so when they take up the entire walkway so there is absolutely no way to get past them. This is also me all the time. (The part about taking up the entire walkway doesn't have anything to do with my walking speed, it just makes me want to hurl these people into the sun.)
3. Sounding out of breath
Because of the incredible speed at which I am moving my legs when I walk somewhere, my breath always sounds as if I am a very large, quite possibly pregnant elephant making a laborious trek across the South Oval, rather than a slightly-taller-than-average college-age girl walking to class. This results in me trying to make my breath sound quieter, which further results in me half-suffocating because walking fast requires significant oxygen intake. It's very difficult.
4. Arriving everywhere sweaty
Also due to the incredible speed at which I am moving my legs when I walk somewhere, my body inevitably thinks we are working out (an absolutely bonkers idea) and decides to create buckets of sweat for me to sit in when I arrive. The amount of times my glasses have fogged up as soon as I get to class is too many to count, and I can't even wipe them on the hem of my shirt because it is always tucked into a pair of Mom jeans. So I just sit and try to ignore the fact that the cute boy next to me has the many-times-in-a-lifetime opportunity of seeing me look like a red, drippy mess, not unlike a moist tomato. It's very difficult.
5. Walking way out ahead of my friends
Every single time my friend group walks somewhere together, I hold out hope that maybe this time, just maybe, my legs will walk at a normal pace. But every single time, mere seconds into the beginning of our endeavor, inevitably I begin to feel the distance between us growing bigger:
I turn to tell an incredibly witty and hilarious joke to my friend, only to find that she has relocated to a position several feet behind where she was just a moment ago.
"Guys...guys!" I shout frantically.
"What- oh no, not again! Hang on!" my friends shout back.
I strain to stop my legs from their expeditious trek, but they are an unstoppable force and I am just one girl.
"Hold out your hand!" my friends cry out.
I reach out as far as I can, but by this point, the distance is just too large. The only contact I can make with my friends is the meeting of our eyes, the shared fear and helplessness as we become further and further away from one another, until eventually I can no longer see them, no longer remember the sound of their voices, forever being propelled forward by my relentless tall girl legs.
It's very difficult.
