Walk/Run option

March 8th

Run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute (6 times)

The training for the Sun Run asks you to do an evaluation at the Week 7 mark. If you don't think you will be able to run the whole time, or find that you can't keep up with the changes on the schedule, you can do the Walk/Run option. I decide to switch to that. I'd rather feel that I am successfully doing the Walk/Run option than feel like a failure on the running option. Although the training guide says not to worry about speed, I start to experiment with running a bit faster and send the treadmill up to 4.3 mph. I can do it! I'm a bit more tired at the end but I don't feel like I am going to fly off the back of the treadmill.

I am still doing my 60 workout after my treadmill session and doing the two together drains me. However, I calculate that the Sun Run will take me 75-85 minutes. (I'm counting on some adrenalin to push me a bit faster on the running segments) I need to be able to keep going for 90 minutes to finish.

Shane, my trainer, asks if I think it's my legs or my lungs that are holding me back. It's neither. It's my feet. My Hawaii injury still hurts and the rest of my feet really take a pounding, too. I remember doing the Miles for Millions walking marathon as a kid and feeling like I could go forever if my feet didn't hurt so much. That was back in the late 60s, though, and I was wearing cheap $1.99 runners. Now I've got $125 runners supplemented by $300 orthotics. My feet still hurt and they hurt in the same place they did 40 years ago.

However, I will be strong! I will not let the "Agony of De-Feet" turn into the "Agony of Defeat."