Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Here We Go Again

I’m back at it; training again, though it’s hard to believe that a full week and then some has passed since the Portland Marathon.  

As I said earlier, my plan is to reduce the scale of my endeavors to ½ marathons and shorter races. So in preparation for that, I tried a walk/run combo this morning. I walked up the Bidwell trail for a mile at a 12:30 minute/mile pace. Then I ran back down…at a 9:50 pace. No, it wasn’t the fastest run I’ve ever done and it certainly wasn’t comfortable.

The racewalking stride is so smooth that anything else suffers in comparison, and suffer I did. Running just jars the heck out of me!

I know we all have a mental image of how we should look while running. In our vivid imaginations, we are like gazelles, or the cheetah pursuing the gazelles. But in reality…we’re plodders. Or, I am a plodder. I want to be light-footed, just kissing the asphalt lightly with my shoes. How do I get that spring into my step?

Well, no matter…it was great to be back and I know I can only get better.

And there’s a short race coming up in November, the Almond Bowl 5K walk/run. I’m racewalking it (maybe?) as I don’t think I’m ready for a run yet. We’ll see…

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