Officially Slowing Down

I'm usually the fastest walker around. It's something of a joke. My coworkers will say, we're going and then almost reflexively add, oh, he can catch up later.

I remember only one student walking faster than me. As fate would have it, a prof I knew who had studied walking was nearby. "Is that kid walking especially fast or is he doing something special, because he is pulling away from me and I'm walking at my usual (legendary) pace?", I asked.

The prof took a look, and said it was the student's beat, not the length of the pace.

This morning, however, as a student pulled ahead of me as I walked, I realized that I was walking slower. I could pick up the pace, but somehow, without my recognizing it, my standard pace had slowed down. Not a momentous shock, but another small loss on my march through time. Sigh.