Run, Baby, Run! Part 2

Exercising: Running on a treadmill

Distance: 1.0 miles in 20 minutes

I have a confession to make.

I don't know how to run.

You would think that everyone in the work knows how to run, but I don't. I tried running track in middle school, but I got shin splints. I tried running my freshman year of college. At the beginning of the school year, my dad took me to buy running shoes. I remember running up and down Sheridan Road in Evanston in my yellow sweatpants. I got shin splints. Aside from the shin-slints, I enjoy running, but since I get shin-splints, running isn't worth the agony.

Before my accident, I could run in bits. I could sprint across the street when cars were coming. Since I am a pedestrian, running is a useful skill to have to jump out of the way of inattentive drivers.

Yesterday we took the Boy to his soccer game and we saw an old guy crossing the street. He was crossing in the middle of the street--not at a corner--and he was moving very slowly. I used to think those people were passive aggressive, walking slowly as if to tell if the drivers, "What are you going to do, hit me?" I now know that sometimes even people who looked able bodied can't run. Jack told me a story of when he finished an Iron Man length triathlon in his early twenties and he came back to Chicago and was trying to catch the El. When the train stopped, Jack had to walk to the doors of the car. Normally, people hurry along, but he slogged, achy and in pain from his over-extertion from a few days earlier. The El attendant yelled at him to move faster, but he couldn't.

Friday, I ran and started to get shin splints. Jason told me to run on the middle of my feet, not to land on my heel, and then I was fine. He gave me the "Return to Running Program" sheet and said I should either run on a track or run on a treadmill, not outside on concrete or uneven surfaces.

This morning, I went to the YMCA and ran on the treadmill. It was raining, and there were a fair number of people running inside. I tried one treadmill, but it was too squashy, so I moved over to the next one. I realized treadmills are just squashy.

When I got home, Jack coached me on form. "Most people don't know how to run. People think it comes naturally, that everyone should know how to run, but they don't." He explained that he Kenyans, who now dominate long-distance running world wide, have a different style of running compared to their international competitors. They place their feet under their hips when they run instead of extending their legs out straight in front of them and landing on their heels. The Kenyans then engage their quads, hamstrings and glutes, which makes them faster.

I am going to try running like this. It will take a while until I am competent. At the rate I am running now, I could finish a 5K in an hour when my daughters' cross country teammates are able to finish in a fraction of the time. Maybe I can run this winter while my family is skiing.