kathryn
Cathlete
I've been using walking as my cardio for the summer, usually alternating between interval walks and steady-state walks (most recently using mixes from www.djsteveboy.com to help push me). I don't see many other walkers on the paths I take, but when I do, they are always slower than I am, so I wanted to see how I'd do against other people.
I heard about a local 4 mile run/walk benefitting Habitat for Humanity and decided to look into it. When I found out the walk was only 2 miles (the run was 4), I was a bit less interested, but yesterday, I decided that if I could get myself out of bed in time this morning(registration started at 6:30, the walk at 7:30) and it wasn't raining (the Weather channel kept going back and forth between predicting rain and predicting clear skies) I'd do it.
I got up early enough (in fact, I could have slept in 10 more minutes!), and luckily, there was no thunderstorm, but it was drizzly most of the time and got chilly at times.
When I went to register, I realized walkers were second-class citizens in the event. It started with the registration clerk asking "you're just walking?" (and not "you're walking") as I handed him my form. Then runners got a number, but walkers didn't (they only cared about the top 3 places in walking, and didn't keep track of any other walkers).
I started out near the front (kind of second-to-third row back--we were kind of out of line--next time, I'll grab a place right in the front row), then passed the second row, and got into the 'fast' group: three women out in front (one of whom was jogging some of the time to try to keep up with the other two :-( , and a couple with a kid that I thought looked around 10 years old, with me right behind.
By the half-way mark, we fast walkers had gotten at least a block ahead of all the other walkers, and had passed a group of three runners who evidently weren't ready for the event. I passed the couple and the kid at one point, but got hung up later when I was futzing with my MP3 (I had chosen to listen to something that was slowing me down, and was trying to find something faster. Arrgh! I wish I hadn't done that....and you'll see why soon) and they went past me again.
3/4 of the way through, two of the lead women were about 1/2 block ahead of the couple, the boy and me, we had passed the cheating walker (the one who jogged to try to keep up) who was really out of breath, and I was right on the tail of the couple, with the kid right beside me (he was running at times as well). Then, the final stretch, the woman right in front of me took off, I took off behind her, leaving the man and the kid behind us.
The two lead women crossed the finish, then after a bit (because they were so far ahead) the woman, then 4 SECONDS LATER, me!
I came in 4th! (which, in the grand scheme of things, is 'invisible,' since they only acknowledged the first 3 walkers :-( ).
I was annoyed that I'd let my futzing with my Mp3 slow me down at one point (I lost at least 3 seconds there, maybe the 4 that could have tied me! or maybe 5 that could have gotten me a place!).
Also annoyed that, while I was wearing my Garmin, and had it turned on, I had forgotten to start it when the race started, so I could check my MPH at the moment, but I didn't get a record of the walk!
I had kind of mixed feelings about it. I went alone, so didn't have anyone rooting for me. I'm not a particularly social person and I don't do well in large groups, so I didn't mingle a lot (just said hello to the 2 people I knew). I felt "invisible" at times. Case in point: some dude was passing out watermelon slices to people who had finished and were hanging around the finish area: he got the people behind me, the people to my left (no one was to my right) and the people in front of me. What...was I wearing my invisible cape? I mean, I've got a fushia top on, how could he NOT see me?
I did talk a bit afterwards with the couple that was in front of me for most of the race, thanking them for keeping the pace up for me to compete with (the woman who got 3rd place and her hubby), but didn't get any contact info before they left (I thought maybe we could train together sometimes). I did find out that the boy wasn't with them, but they'd talked to him, and he's seven years old!
Oh, by the way, my time was 20:15 (a 5.955 mph average!), at least according to the 'official' race timer. (Wish I'd started my Garmin so I could verify that, as well as the actual length of the course!)
It didn't feel like I was going that fast, and when I checked my Garmin, I wasn't at that speed (Maybe I was going faster when I wasn't checking? Too busy racing to look?). I think I need some competition like this to take me to the next level! I later figured that while I usually walk wearing a weighted vest (7# right now) plus a water bottle and belt weighing me down, I did the race with neither of those, and training 'heavy' helped my speed when I was 'light'.
The two women at the front (one of which was actually a girl, which I saw later--she looked about 15 years old!) must have been averaging more than 6 mph the whole way (the first place woman had some really huge arm action to propel her....hmm, maybe if I weren't as concerned about not looking too weird, I could go faster? LOL! But the girl didn't look like she was breaking a sweat at all...just walking a bit faster than normal!)
1st competitive walk down....others to follow? (I'd really like to catch those women in the front! Or at least pass the woman ahead of me. LOL!)
I heard about a local 4 mile run/walk benefitting Habitat for Humanity and decided to look into it. When I found out the walk was only 2 miles (the run was 4), I was a bit less interested, but yesterday, I decided that if I could get myself out of bed in time this morning(registration started at 6:30, the walk at 7:30) and it wasn't raining (the Weather channel kept going back and forth between predicting rain and predicting clear skies) I'd do it.
I got up early enough (in fact, I could have slept in 10 more minutes!), and luckily, there was no thunderstorm, but it was drizzly most of the time and got chilly at times.
When I went to register, I realized walkers were second-class citizens in the event. It started with the registration clerk asking "you're just walking?" (and not "you're walking") as I handed him my form. Then runners got a number, but walkers didn't (they only cared about the top 3 places in walking, and didn't keep track of any other walkers).
I started out near the front (kind of second-to-third row back--we were kind of out of line--next time, I'll grab a place right in the front row), then passed the second row, and got into the 'fast' group: three women out in front (one of whom was jogging some of the time to try to keep up with the other two :-( , and a couple with a kid that I thought looked around 10 years old, with me right behind.
By the half-way mark, we fast walkers had gotten at least a block ahead of all the other walkers, and had passed a group of three runners who evidently weren't ready for the event. I passed the couple and the kid at one point, but got hung up later when I was futzing with my MP3 (I had chosen to listen to something that was slowing me down, and was trying to find something faster. Arrgh! I wish I hadn't done that....and you'll see why soon) and they went past me again.
3/4 of the way through, two of the lead women were about 1/2 block ahead of the couple, the boy and me, we had passed the cheating walker (the one who jogged to try to keep up) who was really out of breath, and I was right on the tail of the couple, with the kid right beside me (he was running at times as well). Then, the final stretch, the woman right in front of me took off, I took off behind her, leaving the man and the kid behind us.
The two lead women crossed the finish, then after a bit (because they were so far ahead) the woman, then 4 SECONDS LATER, me!
I came in 4th! (which, in the grand scheme of things, is 'invisible,' since they only acknowledged the first 3 walkers :-( ).
I was annoyed that I'd let my futzing with my Mp3 slow me down at one point (I lost at least 3 seconds there, maybe the 4 that could have tied me! or maybe 5 that could have gotten me a place!).
Also annoyed that, while I was wearing my Garmin, and had it turned on, I had forgotten to start it when the race started, so I could check my MPH at the moment, but I didn't get a record of the walk!
I had kind of mixed feelings about it. I went alone, so didn't have anyone rooting for me. I'm not a particularly social person and I don't do well in large groups, so I didn't mingle a lot (just said hello to the 2 people I knew). I felt "invisible" at times. Case in point: some dude was passing out watermelon slices to people who had finished and were hanging around the finish area: he got the people behind me, the people to my left (no one was to my right) and the people in front of me. What...was I wearing my invisible cape? I mean, I've got a fushia top on, how could he NOT see me?
I did talk a bit afterwards with the couple that was in front of me for most of the race, thanking them for keeping the pace up for me to compete with (the woman who got 3rd place and her hubby), but didn't get any contact info before they left (I thought maybe we could train together sometimes). I did find out that the boy wasn't with them, but they'd talked to him, and he's seven years old!
Oh, by the way, my time was 20:15 (a 5.955 mph average!), at least according to the 'official' race timer. (Wish I'd started my Garmin so I could verify that, as well as the actual length of the course!)
It didn't feel like I was going that fast, and when I checked my Garmin, I wasn't at that speed (Maybe I was going faster when I wasn't checking? Too busy racing to look?). I think I need some competition like this to take me to the next level! I later figured that while I usually walk wearing a weighted vest (7# right now) plus a water bottle and belt weighing me down, I did the race with neither of those, and training 'heavy' helped my speed when I was 'light'.
The two women at the front (one of which was actually a girl, which I saw later--she looked about 15 years old!) must have been averaging more than 6 mph the whole way (the first place woman had some really huge arm action to propel her....hmm, maybe if I weren't as concerned about not looking too weird, I could go faster? LOL! But the girl didn't look like she was breaking a sweat at all...just walking a bit faster than normal!)
1st competitive walk down....others to follow? (I'd really like to catch those women in the front! Or at least pass the woman ahead of me. LOL!)
