Running & Walking

If I would have stayed with running, this month on the 28^th I would be celebrating my 40^th year of running. I stopped in 2004 when I moved to Pennsylvania from New Jersey. It was primarily fitting it in with my job I said. But upon reflection, I don’t think that was the reason. My running had slacked off for about 2 or 3 years. Probably after 9/11, it took a real dive. Funny, but you would think that a committed runner would have stepped up the running. After all, I wasn’t running for physical health, but probably almost exclusively mental reasons.

          I began to walk regularly from 2004 until about 2010 when I moved again, this time to Lexington, Virginia, where I currently reside. I again fell off the exercise wagon. That was until 2012 when I found out I had a partially blocked artery in my neck. So once again I began to walk religiously for three years until about the end of 2015 when again a cold winter destroyed my motivation.

          It now the beginning of 2018, about two years of starts and stops, and excuses. It’s time for another shot of motivation. I can’t return to running because my leg muscles around my knees are weak as are my knees themselves. I know my knees are good from a recent X-ray. So walking is the obvious choice. But there’s a fly in the ointment. There always is, isn’t there? About a year and a half ago, I had some skin cancer removed from my forehead. Ever since I have been hesitant walking outside even though I now wear sunscreen.

          This time I am going to add meditation to the mix and see how this comes out. Last year I read the “10% Happier” book by Dan Harris from ABC News. It was an interesting read and I believe it can help. I will take it step-by-step. Actually, that is the name of a book memoir by Lawrence Block. I read it about three years ago. It’s about his transition from running to race walking because of bad knees. I’m not sure I will ever be a racewalker, but I will give some serious thought.

I want to return to competitive running, or racewalking at the very least. The fact is that I love running. I always have. I will take a later post and explain how I got into running. It’s quite a story. But for now, walking will have to do. Stay tuned…   

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