Would an early morning walk set you up for the day? Probably

I read her book with a mounting sense that she’s probably onto something

Literature about the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other isn’t exactly in short supply. I should know, because over the years I've probably reviewed more than my fair share of it in the pages of The Scotsman. Some of these books have dealt with walking at night (Under the Stars by Matt Gaw, Nightwalk by Chris Yates); some of them have looked at walking as a means of making connections to the past (The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane, Doubling Back by Linda Cracknell) and some have covered the philosophy of walking (Hiking with Nietzsche by John Kaag, Walking: One Step at a Time by Erling Kagge and The Philosophy of Walking by Frédéric Gros.)

As far as I can remember, though, Do/walk by Libby Delana is the first book I’ve read that deals with the phenomenon of the morning walk, and, I suppose, specifically the early morning walk, because what Delana is really advocating here isn’t a slotharound-the-house-till-11-then-go-fora-quick-stroll-just-before-lunch-type walk, but a crack-of-dawn-whileyour-eyes-are-still-stinging-withtiredness-type walk.

Even by the standards of early morning walkers, Delana is hardcore. Every day, she aims to leave her home at 5am, and on average she walks for between eight and ten miles. In order to make this arrangement work without turning into a permanently sleep-deprived zombie, she usually aims for a bedtime of between 8pm and 9pm.

As Delana lives in New England, the winters can be harsh, so sometimes she goes walking when it’s as cold as minus 28 degrees C. Still, she has developed ways of coping – favourite cold weather hacks include buying a pair of shoes half a size too big so she can wear an extra pair of socks.

But what’s so special about walking first thing in the morning as compared to, say, the middle of the afternoon? According to Delana, it

allows you to "kick off your day on the right foot. Once you commit that time to yourself there is a certain private satisfaction and personal fulfilment that comes from starting the day with a focus on your wellbeing". If that all sounds a bit nebulous, she also cites a University of Toronto study which suggests early risers tend to be happier (although she doesn’t say if all the early risers in the study were also, like her, tucked up in bed by 9pm).

Since Delana started taking her morning walks in 2011, she has covered over 25,000 miles, equivalent to the circumference of the earth. However, in the introduction to her book she’s keen to stress that how far you walk doesn’t really matter; what does matter, she believes, is your "enthusiasm for each walk".

As its title suggests, that’s really the purpose of Do/walk – to fire the reader with enthusiasm to make a morning walk a daily routine. Trouble is, American enthusiasm and joie de vivre doesn’t always translate into something that’s entirely palatable for a cynical, world-weary UK audience.

So, for example, readers on this side of the Atlantic might struggle with sentences like "each walk provides us with unique and important information, essential to navigating our days with a richness and wonder". I love the idea of navigating my days with richness and wonder, but I’ll be honest: I’d struggle to keep a straight face while saying those words out loud. Same goes for the exhortation in Delana’s Walking Mantra, "May you find a sparkly world in walking." Loving the idea of finding a sparkly world every time I go for a walk; not sure I’d necessarily want to express it in those terms, at least not in the presence of anyone I know now/ have ever known in the past/might potentially get to know at some point in the future.

The aspect of the book most likely to set poorly maintained British teeth on edge, however, is Delana’s decision to re-brand the whole concept of the morning walk. To be fair, she is an "award-winning executive creative director, designer/art director by trade, who has spent her career in the ad world" so re-branding things must come naturally.

Still, I suspect I won’t be alone among the inhabitants of these islands when I say that the idea of referring to a morning walk as a Morningwalk (all one word) causes me a small amount of actual, physical pain somewhere deep in the pit of my stomach.

However, if recent years have taught us anything, it’s that people who sound as if they have minds like steel traps can often turn out to be wrong or clueless or both, while others who might not express themselves with quite as much clarity can still be thoughtful and wise and right. And, while I might find some of Delana’s writing problematic, I still read her book with a mounting sense that she’s probably onto something, to the extent that I have resolved to try to incorporate a morning walk into my daily routine. I won’t be calling it a Morningwalk, obviously, but if I find a sparkly world I’ll let you know.