A Beautiful Day!

Today was so beautiful I went for a short walk. Actually, I just walked to the post office to check my mail, but it is about 1 mile round trip.

Part of the reason I decided to take the walk is I'm in pain. I'm pretty sore from yesterday's half marathon and needed to move a little bit. I knew I'd have some pain since I was not trained as well as I would have liked, but I had to laugh when it hurt to get out of my chair earlier today. Stairs are a little bit of a challenge, but not too bad. I've definitely felt worse.

But, being a sucker for beautiful days, it was very difficult to keep it to just 1 mile. Luckily my muscles would not have cooperated even if I wanted them to.

I'm a little bit concerned about training for Cinci in 26 days. I'm glad that members of the Marathon Walking group on Yahoo offered some great advice.

I'm sure there will be plenty more beautiful days to come.

Xenia

Until today, anytime someone mentioned Xenia, I thought of tornadoes. After today, I'll think of a very walker-friendly half marathon and a great sunny day.

Xenia is a littler farther from Columbus than I thought. I drove out on Saturday to pick up my number and find out where I needed to go. I'm glad I did! It was more than an hour away and I had anticipated about 40 min.

I got up at 5:30, and left the house at 6 to be sure to get there in time for the 8 a.m. start and to pick up my chip before the race. I arrived at 7:15, did everything I needed, took a 5 min nap in the car (I needed more), and was ready for the 8 a.m. start. Unfortunately, the race started at 8:30! So I ended up standing in line for the port-a-johns a second time and realized I could have slept!

There are a lot of fast walkers in this area of Ohio. I'm not one of them. I started out way in the back and eventually ended up passing a few people. There were many, many more walkers with great racewalking form ahead of me and I had no shot at catching them. Within the first mile I caught up to Murray. I had planned to chat with him until one of us needed to speed up or slow down. About 13 miles later we finished faster than 3:20.

As many of you know, my training didn't not go as well as I had intended so my main goal was to just finish. I don't know what happened but I was able to hover around a 15-min mile. It felt great! We finished at least 10-15 min faster than I had anticipated. And Murray had a personal best!

With the sun, the mostly cool temps, and good company, it was easy to maintain a steady pace. I didn't really pay much attention to the blister developing my right foot. (I guess it wasn't the socks that caused a blister last time. It is the shoes.)

For anyone who wants a straight-forward, low-key and friendly half, I would highly recommend this one, put on by the ORRRC.

Thanks for keeping me company, Murray! I'll look for you at future half marathons!

Walking Awards

A few people who entered the LaSalle Bank Columbus Distance Classic contacted me because there were no age group awards for walkers. I'm assuming that the decision was made because there were fewer than 300 walkers registered, though I was not involved in the decision.

Though we cannot give awards, we can try to recognize your hard work and accomplishments. If you should have received an age group award at last Saturday's race, or know someone who should have, please e-mail WALK! Magazine with the name, the age group, and finish time. We'll post the results on our web site. (admin@walk-magazine.com)

It's not the same as receiving a plaque, but it's the best we can do.

Thanks for understanding!

Great Training Walk and other Ramblings

Sunday I had a great training walk. I headed to the library, did three laps around the park and headed home - a little over 5 miles. I was not quite sure how many miles to do. Normally, I would taper the weekend before a half marathon, but I have been tapering for WAY too long with the Fleet Feet team. In addition, I stood for 4 hours Saturday to monitor the Half Marathon. I wonder how many training miles that equaled?

I tried a new pair of Brooks shoes given to me by Fleet Feet and they were nearly perfect. They are so light, they feel like slippers and they bend in the perfect spot. At the same time, my feet felt cushioned enough. My only complaint is that my right ankle felt as if it was leaning inward. If my feet and ankles were a little more stable they would be perfect! So, since they are running shoes, I'll probably let my kids fight over them. They are really cool looking, and feel good, I wish they worked better for me.

BTW: Good news - I have again been inundated with new subscriptions! Bad news - my data entry person is no longer available to help me. She is really great, too. So, I am adding a few entries every night and will send out copies as quickly as I can.

I'll be walking the Cleveland Half Marathon with a small group. My husband and some of his co-workers will be walking their first half and I'm planning to join them. I'm not sure what their pace will be, but it should be fun. Because I'll be doing the Flying Pig two weeks earlier, I'll just take it easy. If any of you register for this race, be sure to say you heard about it in WALK! Magazine. In the drop down menu select "other" then type WALK! Magazine in the blank.

I also found out that several friends will be doing the Pig! I'm really excited!

Well, enough rambling for now. I'm thrilled to find out so many people had fun at the Bingham race over the weekend. Thanks for understanding that we did not catch all of the runners. I'm sure it will be even better next year!

PS: Larry, yes I was on High Street near Nationwide. I was on Front near the end of the race, too.

Perspective

I'm not quite sure how to start this one. I'm trying to put everything into perspective.

Due to events over the last few days, I see some things with new eyes. Jaded eyes. I'm pretty disappointed in how things turned out, but I'm going to think about it before I put thoughts about those events into words. In fact, I might not ever share those bad feelings on the web for everyone to see. One person, whose opinion I value, said to spread the word, let everyone know. But I'm not sure.

At the same time, after today I'm very excited! I am so proud of the Fleet Feet walkers! They were fantastic! I watched the Columbus Distance Classic as a course monitor today and saw most of the women who trained with me and many of my Buckeye Strider buddies. They were great. And that Weight Watchers group was very inspiring!They all looked strong and seemed to have a good time. Congratulations to all of you!

In fact, all of the walkers seemed to have a good time. It was really fun watching people who had worked so hard successfully complete this event! A half marathon is not an easy undertaking. It takes training, perseverance and TIME! It was obvious these athletes had put in the time and the training.

For this reason alone, I am very proud to have been associated with this race. I smiled the whole time watching people go by. Seeing so many athletes enjoying this type of healthy endeavor is very inspiring. It was especially inspiring to meet and then watch people that were entering their first race of this distance.

And seeing these people have such a good time made me realize that sometimes it's just about the walking. Sometimes you don't need to know "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey says.

So, thank you everyone who walked this event. You have made my day! I had a wonderful time watching you and you inspired me to do my best next weekend in Xenia!

PS: I saw over 30 people with walker numbers blatantly running. It took 3 of 6 course monitors seeing a person run to have them moved to the runner results. I know there are a couple "runners" we missed. Maybe with a few more monitors... Regardless, there were about 6 people who should have signed up as runners. It will be interesting to see what the race does with those results. And those of you who walked the entire distance, I'm sorry we didn't catch all of the runners. We did our best!

Time is NOT on my side

I've had some fantastic walks over the last two weekends and just have not had a chance to write about them!

I have some great things going on with the magazine, I'm very excited, and again, have not had time to write about them.

I've lost the momentum about the walks, so maybe next time. But I can fill you in about the magazine.

1) We are hopeful to have someone selling advertising fulltime sometime soon! Woo hoo!
2) We had magazine samples at an EBSCO event over the past weekend. (Libraries buy magazines through EBSCO.) It seems very promising!
3) The Columbus Distance Classic is this weekend and it will be great to see all of the walkers at the expo. I am so proud of the walkers who trained with me through the Fleet Feet training program!
4) We are talking to a couple of other races/events about possible sponsorship! I will let you know as soon as details are finalized. (Look for us in Wisconsin and Portland, Oregon later this year!)

That is it for now.

New Goals

I've come to the realization that, even though I have trained for the Capital City Distance Classic, it is impractical for me to actually enter it. I'm coordinating a group of volunteers who will monitor the course. It seems silly to have all of them working hard, watching walkers, while I'm enjoying myself in the race.

This bothered me because I plan to complete 6 half marathons this year. Having one in April would make things much easier.

As it turns out, there is another half in Xenia, OH the weekend after! All I have to do is change my training slightly - do 8 miles this week, 10 miles next week, then taper - and I'll be fine! Xenia will be a much smaller race. I'm sure I will be alone most of the way. However, I did notice there were several people who finished last year's race in over 3 hours, so I might be able to find someone to walk with.

Right now it looks like my half marathon schedule will go like this:

• Xenia, OH - April 9
• Flying Pig Marathon, Cincinnati - May 7
• Cleveland Marathon, Cleveland - May 21
• I can't remember the name, Columbus, OH - July 22
• News and Sentinel, Parkersburg, WV - August 19
• Air Force Marathon, Dayton, OH - September 16

If anyone is planning to enter any of these, let me know!

Sunny Florida

It may seem that I am obsessed with weather. Maybe I am.

I had the opportunity to be in Orlando for three days. (Unrelated to WALK! Magazine.) What a difference from Ohio! I left grey skies and iffy weather, though for Ohio it isn't really cold. I arrived to 85 degrees and beautiful sunshine! Meetings prevented much walking, but I was able to be out for about 45 minutes March 15. It was wonderful walking around looking at palm trees, flowering plants with vibrant colors, and green grass. (Though the grass in Florida is different from the Kentucky Blue I'm used to up here.) The sun was shining and there was a refreshing breeze. Even the humidity cooperated. I know the heat and humidity of summer in Florida would be difficult for me to deal with, but this time of year it was exactly what I needed.

Update

First: I'll just say that both kids are recovering beautifully! Thank you everyone who asked about them. Our daughter was back at school on Monday and is already caught up on her classes. Our son's nose is back to it's normal size and is not longer crooked!

Second: The magazine is at the printer, the proof has been approved and the mailing list will be sent Monday. It should be out in just a couple of days. Woo Hoo!

Third: I walked 10 miles on Saturday in training for the April 1 Half Marathon. Unfortunately, I got blisters for the first time in years! I'm not sure if it is shoes, because I have not walked that far in this brand before or because I didn't wear my favorite brand of socks. Regardless, it felt great and we averaged just a little faster than a 15-min mile. Not bad considering I'm recovering from injuries last year. The weather was beautiful for a change and didn't start raining until I was in my car on the way home.

Fourth: Today I interviewed Steve Vaught - The Fat Man Walking! What an interesting guy! I had planned the usual 1-2 hours for the interview and it lasted much longer. I could have stayed and talked to him for hours longer. I hope you all will enjoy reading about him in the Summer issue of WALK!

I think that's it. You all are now officially caught up!

Life Happens

It's funny how some weeks you experience more "life" than others.

Early this week, one of our kids became sick. A trip to the doctor confirmed an ear infection. Not so bad. A few antibiotics and he will be fine. The next day this same child was running and smashed into the back of another child's head. The school was pretty sure the collision resulted in a broken nose. A trip to the emergency room and several X-rays indicated that the nose was not broken, but the crookedness might just be from swelling and should go away in a few days. Again not so bad.

Finally, just a couple days later, our daughter seemed to come down with a severe case of the flu. Another visit to the doctor indicated it might be more. Another visit to the emergency room confirmed that her appendix would have to be removed. Of course, I had just arrived in Detroit for Heat the Streets when I heard this news. I returned to town about 30 min after the surgery had begun. I am relieved to say the surgery was uneventful and she will be fine. Regardless, I've spent so much time at the hospital, little else has been accomplished.

What a week! You can go a whole year with your entire family healthy and happy - enjoy watching your kids play sports or perform in plays, plan regular training walks, travel to races to promote your magazine and do everyday mundane things. And then suddenly, in just a matter of days, life happens!

It's nice to be able to walk regularly to be ready for an April 1 race. It's nice to have the flexibility to travel or spend late nights finishing up the layouts for the next issue of WALK! But sometimes, life just gets in the way of our plans and we need to make some alterations. Luckily, I will be able to wake early on Sunday and get a 6-mile walk in. Between visits to the hospital, I'll do more work on the Spring 06 issue of the magazine to get it to the printer ASAP. And with any luck, life will cooperate and the Spring issue won't be "too" late.

Speed Makes a Difference

I've been really worried about how cold I've been the last couple times I walked with the Fleet Feet group. Shoot, I was so cold this past Saturday, I quit early.

Today it was 19 degrees when I went out for a walk, 2 degrees warmer than Saturday. I forgot to wear my fleece vest, but did have on two shirts, a jacket, my "gator" around my neck, a headband for my ears and the same gloves that caused my hands to freeze -- twice. My goal today was to walk the first two miles at a good pace, then the second two miles faster.

The first mile was at about 15:20, the second was a little over 15:00. The third mile I picked up the pace and was slightly under 15 min. The last mile I did intervals of walking as fast as I could and finished in 14:19! I was sweating up a storm, my hands were WAY too hot and I even took off my gloves.

The good news is my knees feel great and the iliotibial band in my left leg is fine! Woo hoo!

So, from this great training walk I learned that I am now recovered enough that I can work on speed! When I walk with the Fleet Feet people, and I'm not doing my own pace, I need to wear more clothes. And when I'm deciding how many layers to wear, I really need to think about the pace.

PS: I have a goal of finishing 6 half marathons this year. Maybe I can also get back to my almost 13-min mile pace!

I'm Getting Paranoid

I know everyone is tired of reading about my thoughts on Ohio weather. I've lived in this state most of my life and I'm used to its idiosyncrasies. The nice thing about Ohio is if you don't like the weather, wait a day and it will change.

But now I'm beginning to feel paranoid. Over the last few weeks, we have had an unusually mild winter. We've had sunny days in the 50s and 60s during the week. My mid-week walks have been fantastic! I've barely encountered any of the winter depression I can be prone to.

However, Saturday morning weather has been awful! A couple of weeks ago we had record lows. Two weeks ago we had rain while temps were in the low 30s. (I hate rain in February!) This week, the temps were in the high 50s on Friday. Saturday morning the news predicted mid-20s. I wore what I normally would wear when acclimated. In reality, the temps were in the mid-teens and the wind was brutal! I was walking toward the back of our group, so not working as hard as usual and never got warm. The wind was whipping, making it feel even colder. Luckily, we mostly walked through a more residential area, so that broke some of the wind, but that one stretch on Schrock Road was miserable!

After about 4.5 miles, Tim found us and brought us some drinks. I suggested we stop at 6 miles and head back, and he indicated many people were doing that. (We were supposed to walk 8 miles.) I was a little surprised to see we were the only walkers who cut it short. When I took off my gloves, my hands were red and I had no feeling in them. OK, maybe I really do need to break down and get new gloves. (In my defense, I've walked in the winter for 5 years with cheap $1 gloves from K-Mart, and never had the problems I am this winter. I really think it is from my lack of speed and not building up heat while walking.)

Anyway, this Sunday morning, it is again beautiful. The temps are milder and the sun is shining. I'll be making up the 2 miles I didn't do yesterday. I just can't figure out why we never have mornings like this on Saturdays.

Beautiful!

I planned to take a nice casual walk to the library to return a missing MP3 disc. I have a habit of returning the cases without the CD, MP3 disc or tapes. The temps were mild so I was able to wear just a light jacket with a sweater and jeans for the 2-mile walk. It was even light out which is a nice change. I got to the library, returned the disc, and then decided to do 1/2 loop around the park to add 1/2 mile to my walk. I reached the turnaround point and was enjoying the walk so much, I just kept going for a full loop around the park.

So my casual 2-mile walk was extended to a 3-mile walk. How often does that happen? There are plenty of times when I've had to force myself to complete any distance in a training schedule, yet today, I just kept going. I wish I could bottle that feeling for when I seriously need it.

In the meantime, I'm just enjoying the fact that I can take a casual walk in February wearing a light jacket.

Missing Feb 4 Entry

I am so bummed! I swear I posted an entry Feb. 4 talking about how much I hate walking in rain in February, but it isn't on my blog. I don't know if it was never posted correctly, or if it was accidentally deleted. I had spent that morning walking 7 miles in ice cold rain. It was supposed to be 40 degrees out there, but it felt more like -2. (Of course, I know that's impossible or the rain would have been snow.) The whole distance I kept thinking that the members of my regular walking club were nice and warm walking on an indoor track. My mistake was, I dressed for 40 degree weather. When you are wet, it feels much colder. I did bring dry shirts, a new jacket, shoes and socks, but I didn't think to bring pants. I joined the other walkers and runners for a clinic following the walk, and shivered during the entire thing. I used my heated car seats, bought coffee for the ride home and used every drop of hot water in the shower, and I was still cold the rest of the day.

It's too bad the posting is missing. I was a lot more creative and descriptive. This past Saturday the weather was beautiful and sunny and crisp... I almost forgot how miserable I was just 7 days earlier.

Regardless, no matter what we face April 1, we will be ready!

How to Make it Work

The concept for WALK! Magazine is well received. After one year, we are still hanging in there!

I'm amazed at the great letters I receive from readers, the renewal rate is well above what we expected, the response to our readership survey floored me and we are starting to get some interest from some new advertisers! We are this close (note: my index finger and thumb are 1/4 inch apart) to making this a huge success.

At this point, I really think public relations and self promotion are the key. I've worked with a couple of races to help them become more walker friendly. (That's what got me started with the idea for this magazine.) The links to the WALK! Web site help, being seen at race expos is very good for me, but I need more.

That 1/4 inch is so small and yet so large. What do I do to make that leap?

Our core of consultants and writers is phenomenal. I have great walking buddies - especially the Buckeye Striders - who are fantastic cheerleaders and whose ideas have fueled lots of articles. I have met some very helpful race directors. I have also met thousands of walkers, several who have gone above and beyond to help me get this thing going. (Yes, Chris and Jeeyum, you are in this group.)

So, what do I do to get to the next step?

We are going to try some new things in the next few months. We have some ideas for promoting to libraries. I've had some suggestions to promote to health and fitness professionals, which is a little out of our league cost-wise right now. There are a couple of races I'll continue attending, including Heat the Streets in Detroit. I'd like to get into some of those big companies that encourage their staff to walk. That could be huge!

If any of you have ideas for what we should try next, or any ties to get us on the Oprah show, please let me know.

In the meantime, I'll be contemplating that 1/4 inch...

Timing is Everything

It's funny how many things in a life are affected by timing. Three things over the last 3 days all depended on it.

First, I happened to be working from home catching up on WALK! Magazine stuff Friday. I opened my e-mail in time to see that Tim Seaman was in Columbus for a short while and couldn't find my phone number (he had the advertising number) and left me his number. I called him back and was able to meet him at a nearby restaurant before he headed to Findlay for a track event. After a year of his writing for WALK! Magazine I finally had the chance to meet him! We talked much longer than either of us had time for, but it was really fun. If I had not worked from home that day, I would not have been able to drop everything and run out to meet him.

Second, we went up to Marblehead, Ohio Saturday to see my Mom. I was not able to walk with the Fleet Feet group that morning, so was worried about when I would fit in 6 miles over the weekend. Saturday afternoon was absolutely beautiful! I could not believe it was in the high 50s in January right on Lake Erie. (As a kid, we would be ice skating on the lake in January.) I wore a light jacket and a long-sleeved T-shirt and I was too hot! I came back feeling inspired, my knees felt great and I had no pain. It was a good walk. When I woke Sunday it was cold, windy and rainy. From the bedroom window I could see the sky was grey and there were small white caps on the lake. I would have had a hard time going out the door that morning. I was SO glad I had decided to walk Saturday. If I hadn't, right now I'd be regretting not getting my miles in.

Finally, the other reason for going up to the Marblehead/Port Clinton area was to celebrate the release of our friend K.D. Moore's newest CD. There was a parrothead party at one of the hotels and he was a featured artist one evening. I could have sworn the release party was Saturday evening. Unfortunately, we realized too late he sang Friday evening! From all reports, his performance was great! At least we were able to hang out with him and watch some of the other groups perform Saturday night. (Usually he's the one on stage and we don't get to talk much.) And he did join the Jungaroo Brothers on stage for a couple of sets, so we got to see him sing a little.

So, over the last couple of days my timing was perfect 2 out of 3 times! I don't know whether it's luck, karma or listening to that little voice in your head that affects whether your timing is right or not. I'm hoping I have many more days like the first 2, where I'm at the right spot at the right time. Hmmm. I did buy lottery tickets this weekend. I better check my numbers to see if my timing was right 3 times out of 4!

On the Mend

Rest, ice, elevation, anti-inflammatories...repeat. My knees are feeling SO much better! The iliotibial band is almost pain-free! Yeah! To strengthen my knees I have started some light knee lifts. It seems as if "racewalking" causes more swelling than regular walking, so I've been doing light easy walking. I've tried to get in some miles every day, which helps. Also, high heels seem to be aggravating, so I've been wearing lower heels.

I'm sure I'll be ready by the time the half marathon rolls around.

Back to the Beginning

I've decided to go back to the beginning. Starting this week, I am following the training schedule for the half marathon to the letter. The only way I will be able to recover from my weak knees is to strengthen them and I usually strengthen them by walking.

So, today I walked for 40 min. I'm not totally without common sense. I did take it very easy. In fact, I walked just to the library and back - normally a 30-min trip - in that 40 min. I did not try to racewalk at all. I walked a little faster than a stroll.

When I got home my knees felt pretty good. The tendon felt fine. I still iced my knees and the contenting ends of the tendon. I don't feel any unusual swelling. OK, for me, what is unusual swelling?

Tomorrow is another 40-min day. I'm looking forward to it. If the temps are as mild as they were today, it will be great to be outside again.

I realize I haven't mentioned much about the magazine. I have really good news! Two more retailers what to carry it! I'm so excited! One in Charlottesville, VA and the other in Dublin, OH. I'll post more info later this week.

Another Training Day

It's funny how the weather can be mild all week, then Saturday morning turn frigid. It was in the 60s Friday - Saturday morning it was in the low 30s when we left to walk, and temps dropped as we went. We were supposed to walk 5 miles, but I think we ended up going farther. I took it easy and felt pretty good. Shortly after I got home though, I could feel my knees swell up. I iced them, but they were still swollen. So, this week I'll try more icing and some knee strengthening exercises and see how it goes.

New Year's Injury

Let me preface this whole entry with this - over the last 6 months I have not maintained the level of fitness I want. I not only feel unhealthy, I feel guilty, but that’s another entry.

Last weekend our training group walked 3 miles. It was not difficult for me, but I did feel a little pulling in my left leg at the knee and hip. I’ve never been injured here, but I knew it did not feel right. Sunday when I walked to the post office, an easy walk of just about 15 min, that leg hurt again and my knees swelled. Still, Monday I insisted on starting the New Year by walking a very intense 4 miles. Not only did I walk the distance, I added speed intervals. I know, I should not add speed intervals to a long slow distance, but I was feeling a little bit cocky. (There’s a reason they call it “long slow distance”.) My leg has bothered me ever since. Sitting is uncomfortable, walking hurts for a while until I’m warmed up. My knees have been somewhat swollen all week. I cut back on walking.

During this Saturday’s walk I still had pain down my leg and took it slow. But it was worse. Afterward a massage therapist was available. I talked to him about my pain and he was surprised at how tender and inflamed my Iliotibial band was. He explained where the tendon is, what was causing the pain, and suggested I take it easy.

I know this is not the worst injury possible, but it is annoying and painful. I also feel stupid. I knew something was wrong and pushed myself too hard. Who was I trying to impress? Me? Now I will have to be careful for a while until this thing goes away. And from what I’ve read about it, it can come back often. (Yea.) So, I’m sitting here in January with an ice pack on my swollen parts. Yuck.

Anyway, my point is this. If you know something is wrong, even if you think it is minor, take care of yourself. Pay attention to your body and modify your training to prevent a more serious injury. If you are smart, you can walk and never be injured.