The G Running Diary

Street Walking: 4/21/05

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I'm not really supposed to run right now, so I went for a walk. Walking is like running but slower, so you have to be really patient about getting where you are going. You try not to think about how long it's taking, just swing those arms and keep the pace smooth. I thought of Eric Poulsen, one of the great ultrawalkers who I have seen in action. He is a regular at the Ruth Anderson runs. Anyway, I didn't think I looked like him. I was just on a brisk walk. I decided I would give my walk a purpose by going to Piazza's and picking up a small container of my favorite yogurt. I am happy to run in silly places, going round and round a track, but it seems like walking is better with a goal.

The neighborhood observations are still the same, the birds, gardens, house architecture, smells of blossoms and fresh grass, but they all pass by more slowly. Come to think of it, some of my slowest runs may have been almost as slow as this fast walk I tried. So the scenery isn't passing by that slowly. For a couple days after this walk, my shins were sore on the outside (lateral as opposed to medial, not outside vs. inside). I used to work on this particular muscle by walking on my heels. Don and I would walk on our heels from the exit of 24-hour Fitness to the car. Most people gave us puzzled looks, but one time a guy said, "That's a good workout." As we did it regularly, we could go for longer distances before we felt the extreme burning. When we reached the car, we'd hop up and down to make the pain go away.