The loneliness of the long distance walker

I've mentioned the camaraderie (and food) before and after a race. What about practice? Walking (or running) is an individual activity unless on a team or in a relay. As in many endeavors, encouragement and companionship are often prime motivators to keep going and to have fun.

If you followed my 2009 progress, you'll have noticed a striking pattern: I rarely trained outside. Most of my activity was on a treadmill, in a gym with individualized TV screens and among dozens of other exercisers. The events I entered were outdoors, but the number of times I walked outside  "in training"  in 2009 could be counted on the fingers of one hand. I didn't enjoy it; truthfully, I never really tried. Walking on roads or paths by myself could be lonely, even with ipods.

Outside practicing, however, was going to be required for the Half Marathon. Cold - and potentially snowy - weather could not be simulated by a treadmill. What, for example, should I wear? The question was even beyond my limited fashion sense. It was potentially affecting my first mantra: Survival!

The Half Marathon web site highlighted practices every two weeks, with different options for distance (6.5 miles, 9 miles, the full 13.1 miles.)  I could taste winter walking on the event route with other, presumably faster, people. But I could choose a shorter distance so I wouldn't finish days (literary exaggeration!) behind. 

So, one Saturday, I drove the 50 miles from Woodstock to the motel where the practice was to start. The weather was relatively decent: clear, but about 30-40 degrees. I didn't know anybody. But, as expected, people were friendly and encouraging.  I started with others at 9 AM, got individualized directions about the 6.5 mile turnoff and, for the first three miles, was roughly close to  2 slower walkers. For the last 3.5 miles I was by myself. I later saw more people at the motel and, by the time I left, I knew a few names and definitely planned to return in two weeks.


And I now had a practice plan for March 14: walk one longer distance outside on the weekends in Rock Hill or Woodstock and do shorter workouts in the gym on a couple of weekdays.


The next Saturday, I did 9 miles in my local Woodstock roads. I saw, maybe 4 people on the route, but, to my surprise, enjoyed the workout. My ipod acted funny and I spent part of a mile fidgeting with it; a useful distraction! I walked about 9.5 miles.


The Saturday after I hopped in the car on a clear winter day for the  journey to official practice #2.  I  didn't pay attention to the temperature. The external temperature sensor on my car initially showed the garage temperature. 50 degrees. I drove on. 45, 40, 35, 30. A few miles later, as the residual temperature dissipated. 25, 20, 15.  Then 10. Then under 10. I think it was 5 when I got to Rock Hill.


I parked the car, ran immediately into one of the people I had met the first week and muttered: "Are we crazy?"  I  put on a second pair of pants, wore the winter jacket I wasn't expecting to use over my three other layers of clothing, and proceeded to walk 9.6 miles. My hat froze with my sweat.


It was exhilarating!  


A real sense of accomplishment. Back in the motel, I commiserated  about the cold with the more experienced runners and we all observed there was no wind, which was, of course, good.

The next weekend, back to Woodstock (Zena.)  12 miles.

Then Rock Hill. 10 miles. In the twenties, but windy. I made a decision not to go around the 4 mile lake and save that for the last practice or the race itself. I shared the first 3 miles with another runner until the 6.5 mile split. I joined a number of other participants for a delicious brunch at a local dinner.

Back to Woodstock. 12 miles. The terrain is similar to that of Rock Hill, but no lake.

Yesterday was the last scheduled practice on the course. I had intended to try the full 13.1 miles, but Mother Nature intervened. A second massive snowstorm.dumped a couple of feet of snow in the area and I didn't drive the 50 miles to walk on snowed-in roads. The lake roads in snow.

An irony here: Woodstock had very little snow.

My first 13.1 mile walk will not be in practice, but in the race itself.

Why the title of this post? Literally, except for the instances cited in the descriptions above, I have walked alone for the outdoor practices. Certainly in Woodstock. In Rock Hill, runners practicing the 9 or 13 mile routes are faster than me. However, since people start at different times and do different distances, we run into each other and wave or briefly chat. The camaraderie of race day continues on practice day. 




NEXT:  Anticipating the March 14 Half Marathon

Back to the Present

I'm back to present time. Almost. I started the blog in December, whining about my knee and initiating the prequels. The last post described my fall races, but stopped prior to the events that brought out my whining and 2010 indecision.

The fact is that, in December, I overcompensated for a lack of exercise during a rather delicious and enjoyable Thanksgiving period. I went to the gym three days in a row, cranking up the speed to 5.5 - 5.7 mph range (getting into the under 11 minutes per mile for a bit.) On the third day, I felt a "twinge" in my right hamstring. My knee started hurting, accentuated (in my mind) by all the car driving I was doing.

Bother. And I have a bit of hypochondria, as both of my daughters can verify.

What should I do? One answer was "write a blog" and the other was to lower treadmill levels and build up strength in leg muscles with other exercises. What winter events could I even consider? I obviously wouldn't be going as fast as in the fall and had never done winter walking. 

After I started this blog, I surfed the Sullivan and Orange County runners' club web sites for upcoming races. Maybe I should consider a 10K, where my training speed would more likely match my event speed?  I had noticed that once I got into a walking groove, I could keep going for a while at about the same pace.

A few events looked intriguing, but one stood out: a walker's start at 8:30 AM and a runner's start at 10 AM for a half marathon in March. The downside? A half marathon is 13.1 miles! Right. My previous high race was 4.3 miles and I had never even attempted a 10K (around 6.2 miles), I'm whining about a knee brace, and I'm going to leap into 13.1 miles in a winter race?

Not very logical. But then it wasn't too logical eleven months ago to enter my first ever 5K.

So the indecision is gone. My next event is on March 14 in Sullivan County: http://www.celebratelifehalfmarathon.com/  

As Carol likes to say, "Go Figure."

NEXT: The loneliness of the long distance walker

Prequel #6: The Golden Autumn Races

The "Malibu Breakthrough"  foreshadowed the Autumn races of 2009.

After returning from California, I continued my pattern at the gym, but now increasing the speed to 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 mph for 3.1 mile distances. Not stunning speeds for runners, but pretty good clips for walkers like me. These were indoor times and presumably aided by my hands balancing on the arms treadmill. My weight continued to fall.

The next two September races confirmed that my (imprecise) Malibu times were not a fluke. My 39+ minutes for a 5K were now in the low 37 minutes.

Mad Dash 5K:  The Dash was a well advertised and attended annual race in the center of the picturesque town of Rhinebeck; 299 runners and 28 walkers completed the gentle rolling hills of the 5K and 180 the 10K.  I trucked along in the midst of slower runners and other walkers. The race attracted some of the best area walkers. I finished 6th. Many of the 5 ahead of me had that race walking gait mentioned in the previous post. HOWEVER, I finished in exactly 37 minutes (37:00), my best time to date!

It was now obvious about my next goal: break into the 36 minute range in a 5K race outside the gym.

Wurstboro 5K: That wasn't to happen at the end of September race in Wurtsboro. The 5K was held in pretty terrain though a wooded path near a an old canal. There were many turns and tree roots to manage, but, more significantly, it had rained the night before and parts of the ground were slippery. (One of my walker colleagues told me later he had fallen.) I was still very pleased with my time: 37:38, or about 12.07 minutes/mile.


The AUTUMN PEAKS:.

IBM 5K - Poughkeesie: It is October 6th, my last day as a 62 year old, the weather is perfect, the course is flat, the local IBM Club is sponsoring a run/walk for health purposes, many of my colleagues are participating or volunteering or watching, and one of co-workers (an excellent race walker who was in the Mad Dash) is going to pace me before he finishes first. I'm pumped in my nerdy way.

   35:24

If you look closely at my finishing stride for 3rd place in the walker division, you should observe: 1) my form is a better than previous pictures, 2) I still need a clothing advisor, and 3) my shoelace is untied. I have been watching it for the last tenth of a mile to make sure I didn't trip. (I could, of course, have done the safer action of stopping to tie! I now double-tie shoelaces when I start.)

Bloomingburg Run for the Animals 7K: The race was intriguing. There seemed to be an emphasis on encouraging walkers, with the walkers starting significantly before the runners. The race was a longer distance (7K - 4.3 miles) than tried previously, so a different challenge. I didn't expect to know anybody participating.  I wondered if street directions were going to be clear.

Some things you just don't have to worry about. A police car was going to lead the way for the 73 walkers!

And, to my surprise, after about 50 yards, I was the one following it. For the entire 4.3 miles. Considering my non-athletic background and skill, this was a truly heady experience being lead by a car with flashing lights.

Winning time:  50:47 minutes. Pace: 11:42 minutes/mile for 4.3 miles

And the food and friendliness was most excellent!

I suppose that if the police car had been behind me, I might have had to go even faster. (:-)

Cornwall on Hudson Fall Harvest 5K: Cornwall on Hudson, another picturesque town, is on, well, the Hudson River. Their fall festival looked like a fun event if the weather was good. And it was, so I walked in the midst of the other 5K runners and walkers. The route was hillier than IBM. I acheived my first 36 minute (36:15) for a 5K, picking up the 1st place engraved drinking glass. And a really nice long-sleeved sweatshirt.

I didn't know it at the time, but those were my last races of 2009. I had accumulated a goodly number of sweatshirts, t-shirts, and, completely unexpected at the beginning of the year, various ribbons, etc. I had had fun, enjoyed the post-race camaraderie and food, and was now weighing under 180 pounds. 

NEXT: Back to the Present