I’m short, so taking stairs more than one at a time is not comfortable. I walk up escalator stairs and those are barely comfortable for my short legs. I live on the 4th floor of a walk-up. The inside front stairs are original to the building and are very comfortable to jog up and down. I generally don’t, though, because they are noisy and creaky and crackly. The faster you go, the louder they are and I prefer not to be rude to neighbors. The outside back stairs are part of a newer decking structure, and I find them very narrow. I hate going up them, and have to use them to go down at least once or twice a week to take out trash. I’ve caught my heel a couple of times, and prefer to go at a bit of an angle so my whole foot is on the step. It’s awkward and I have to hang on to the rail. I’m 40, so maybe it’s a getting older thing, but I was never one to bound up and down stairs due to my stubby legs anyway.
3 times out of 5 I’m carrying something up or down the stairs, whether it’s laundry or groceries. I’m not inclined to trot the stairs when I have a 20-pound load to carry, too.
I also use the El every day, and will take an escalator if there’s one at a given station, but I always walk up it. I find the stairs at the El stations very comfortable to walk on, and will trot down them regularly, though with my hand skimming the railing. The thought of disabling myself by falling down stairs, when I live in a walk-up that would result in my needing assistance during recovery is far more overriding to my decision to be careful than my need to end the stair experience a few seconds faster.
And that’s why I’d rather go on vacation with Hbns than Hambil (who I’m imagining would be like my dad: “We’re stopping at every Stuckey’s, but only at Stuckey’s, for a ten-minute potty break. And I’m not buying you kids a Pecan Log.”)
FWIW - It’s decorum for me. I almost always run up stairs because people are rarely in stairwells anyway. But, the next step in the progression would be running the 300 yards, say, from my building to another building to pick up some paperwork or whatever. I would much rather run that distance (it would be nice to move around a bit, and it would take much less time), but doing so would make people think you’re a nut.
It is difficult to get the wife to walk down an escalator. But what’s worse is being behind a group of schoolgirls. They’re notorious for stopping right there where the escalator ends. They’ll stand there chattering away about where to go while everyone behind piles into them.
When I was younger I used to take stairs two steps at a time. Now I’m 65, and plod up steps for several possible reasons:
Painful knees.
Diminished strength in general.
Cardiovascular problems (aortic stenosis and peripheral vascular disease).
Increased bodily weight.
Balance issues.
Bifocals.
Lower back spasms.
Greater potential injury if I fall.
General laziness.
No place I need to rush to.
Possible cats on steps.
That’s what I say to myself whenever I see people dashing up the subway escalator on the way to work each morning. “Gee, I wish I had a job I loved that much.”
I used to BOUND up stairs. Now (age 40) I merely run up. Though in shape I feel twinges in my knees when bounding up that don’t hurt but feel like they are indications of eminent catastrophic failure.
I also feel that the associated pounding is obnoxious, whereas that didn’t bother my younger self.
I agree with a previous poster that running up stairs feels like it takes less energy than walking each stair.
It is obnoxious, so I make a concerted effort to make gentle footfalls. Some people make an astonishing amount of noise just walking normally–I have no idea how these people haven’t destroyed their joints yet just from all the shock. Personally, on carpet, my shoes make less noise than the rustle of my pants. On hard surfaces I make gentle taps. I am occasionally tempted by shoes such as Vibram Five Fingers, so that I can make even less noise, but I am hitting diminishing returns.