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Ever wish you had a clone? Rhetorical question? My mom was here last week and I felt like I had the double I dreamed about. You think I would have been able to blog daily, but I had to prioritize, folks. I did manage to squeeze in a few workouts, take Mc to kids yoga, have "only child" dates with my other girls, clean out four closets (two more to go), and visit the pediatrician, veterinarian, dentist and dermatologist. (No, not for Botox, I was afraid all of those long runs and rides in the Texas sun caught up with me. Not in the form of skin cancer, as I feared, just age spots and wrinkles. Still, no Botox.) The other luxury of the week was a whole conversation with my dear friend Laura. Usually we leave voice mails with each other about every other week. Or, if we're lucky enough to talk, it gets cut short by one of our kids (she has a 6yo and 2yo).
Laura and I have quite a history. She is one of those rocks in my life. We've been roommates and shared many significant moments over the years, among them weddings and childbirth. We also trained for two Ironman triathlons together. When you're working out somewhere between 10 and 20 hours a week together you become close, real close--we are sisters in sweat. At the moment, both of us aren't running. Me, because I'm taking it slow. Laura, because she has a knee injury. We were discussing the details of her knee injury and what we're currently doing to stay fit, which for both of us includes walking as the mainstay. Normally, runners and triathletes groan about having to "just" walk. It felt as if we should, after all, the number of track practices and long runs we've finished together are too numerous to count. But instead the conversation went like this: In a hushed tone, "I kinda like walking," I admitted. "Yeah, me too," Laura whispered. We were both sitting in our cars, so I'm not sure who we thought would hear us, or why they would care. We both went on to say that we believe we get a pretty darn good workout when we walk. Laura says she keeps intending to wear her heart rate monitor so she can see for sure. Why does she fail to put it on? Because ingrained in her brain is the notion that a walk isn't worthy of wearing a heart rate monitor. It's just a walk, right? What's the point? But we both agree we have a better body awareness when we walk, one that isn't quite there when we run. I can feel that place where butt meets leg when I take those longer strides. My hip flexors get stretched out, my quads and hamstrings speak to me, I notice the pull in my deltoids as I swing my arms and feel my core tighten as my upper body adjusts to the movement. When I run, it's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, breathing, and holding on for the duration. Don't get me wrong, I still think of myself as a runner. I'm even starting to sprinkle a few running bursts into my walks. Perhaps I need to incorporate that body awareness I feel on walks into my runs. But once I start to run again, I usually feel like I should be running, and running only; that a walk will be taking the wimpy way out. And, now, I'm not so sure that's fair. From now on I'm going to give walking the respect it deserves. It may take some time to change my attitude, though. I had a great walking workout this morning, but once again forgot to wear my heart rate monitor. Laura, if you've managed to remember yours since our conversation, let us know if the workout is worthy.  |
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