Yesterday morning I got an itch to go for a quick run, but also needed to get the dog exercised.

LIGHT BULB! Take the dog running with you! Well, he’s just now 6 mos old so I’ve been waiting until he gets a bit bigger. But I figured it couldn’t hurt and he certainly has plenty of energy to burn.

Oliver was looking at me very strangely when I did the Body Looseners, especially the Gumby arm-flinging one. He literally cocked his head sideways and watched me.

We went to Carrier Park, a loop he’s familiar with. I tied the leash around my waist and started off running very slowly, really trying to focus mostly on myself and my own running form, but having awareness around this 4-legged companion running alongside. [Note: Mei Ling, the Dreyer's dog, is an amazing creature to watch when she's running. While I am certain Oliver will be an excellent running companion for me, he's no Mei-Ling, just like I'll never be a Danny Dreyer!]

Since I had the leash around my waist, it brought extra attention to my core muscles, encouraging me to keep them engaged the whole time I was running. Since I was able to keep my arms moving, I focused on keeping them at 90 degrees with rearward momentum. I also thought about keeping my lower legs limp and loose. I didn’t want the dog’s presence or excitedness to transfer to tenseness in my legs.  The whole run felt really good. It was about a 1.5 mile run altogether with a little bit of walking on either end and, of course stretches. During a few low grade downhills I opened up my hips and sped up a bit. Oliver took it all in stride (pun intended) and switched from a canter to a gallop. He looked up at me as if to say, “Now we’re talkin’!”

My knee has been in really good shape lately. The shorter distances are suiting me well, and since I don’t have anything specific I am training for, it’s just about the process and experiment of running just for the sake of it.

For those of you with dogs, if they’re in good enough health to take running or walking, I highly encourage it. Danny and Mei go out running everyday together, and Katherine often takes Mei running and walking, too. She’s one of the happiest dogs I’ve ever met, and as you all know, the Dreyer’s are certainly happy and healthy.  What a model to follow!

I was in Colorado this weekend for a friend’s wedding, and proudly brought my running gear to head out for a short run on Saturday morning.

Denver is the Mile High City: elevation 5, 280. I grew up there, so I have a fair advantage of a few more red blood cells than sea-level dwellers, and because Asheville is about 2,100 feet.

In any case, I went for about a two mile run around the neighborhood and flood plain where I grew up. I have distinct memories of riding my bike and (dreadfully) running the same route years ago. It was such a visceral moment remembering the frustration I felt when I used to run that it sort of alarmed me. But it ended up being a great quick jaunt through memory lane.

It’s a basically flat course, with a few gradual hills. Always aware of my chin now, I kept my crown high and my core engaged and my stride short. When I finally got into a rhythm, I switched my focus to pelvic rotation: because there were a few downhills, I was able to get a pretty good-feeling pelvic rotation and could tell that my feet were landing underneath/behind me and not in front of my on the downhills. That was great feeling.

I passed a few other runners and walkers to whom I desperately wanted to shout, “ChiRunning, follow me, ChiRunning, follow me! I can show you the way!” Strange, I know.

The funny part was at the wedding: I chatted with a few friends/neighbors who said, “Liz, I saw you running in the flood plain today. Was that you? You looked good!” Jaw dropped. Really? You saw me? And I looked decent? I got a good chuckle out of that one.

I did my Body Looseners and walked before running, and walked a bit and stretched after running. I felt great, no soreness, no knee pain, no side aches, just a bit of breath shortness because of altitude. Hoorah!

(I was sore the next day from dancing for 4 hours straight, though… next up: ChiDancing!)

I went down to Carrier Park again yesterday morning early when it was still cool.

Doing the Body Looseners and a bit of ChiWalking before and after running is going to save me, I believe. Patience is certainly not one of my highest strengths, and by doing the Looseners and stretches and walking before and after running, it’s forcing me to take things a bit more slowly and in manageable bits.

I think this process is good because as Danny often says, getting your brain to really focus for steady periods of time is hard — your mind wants to wander! So if I can really practice focusing for the entire run (by starting with shorter times and distances), then it will get easier over time to focus for longer periods of time.

We talk about refocusing in the Beginner Marathon Training Program (and in the Intermediate, due out next month). This idea of focusing and refocusing is so imperative to all of us… not only when we’re running but when we’re doing anything in life. What’s so exciting, though, is that as runners and walkers, we can practice refocusing while we’re exercising (doing something we love) and then it starts to become 2nd nature and you can refocus more easily on anything in other veins of life.

So if I loosen, walk, run, walk and stretch, in that order each time I go out for a run, the entire process turns into a series of events when I must refocus, over and over again. If I apply this same reasoning to the rest of my life, say for example, my morning when I arrive at the office, perhaps I could use the same idea of refocusing:

Check email, get tea ready, respond to 5 emails, return phone calls, rebrew tea, walk around the office for 5 minutes, check email, prepare for meeting…

I think the most important thing about the practice of refocusing is that you make a choice about what you need to focus on (during your day, your run, your vacation, etc.) and have an implicit understanding with yourself that while there may be temporary distractions, going back to focusing on “this list” is the most important thing…

So, on that note, I am off to brew some tea.

So, remember I last blogged about lovely crisp mornings here in Asheville? Well, I must have been mistaken. When I got finished with my short run this morning I was stretching and noticed that I was literally steaming from my head. Granted, I have a large forehead… It was steamy hot this morning, and very muggy. When I was doing my Body Looseners before I got started, I got attacked by mosquitoes (they love my blood).

Bless Carrier Park in all its flatness. I walked down there and did two laps around. It’s just over 3 miles if you go twice around, like a 5k. I don’t know how long it took me, and I don’t mind!

I started with these focuses: tall crown, engaged core, 90 degree arms. I have a tendency to pull my arms up, so it’s really helped me to start running by standing still and then falling, but setting up the 90 degrees first and then recognizing as soon as I start how low it is compared to how I tend to bend my arms if I don’t think about it. I also worked on a short stride and relaxing my pelvic region to let my legs go behind me to help out my precious knees. No twinge of knee pain whatsoever. !

I wish you could all see Danny run. Seriously, I don’t mean to gloat because I get to see him at his best, but the man is so beautiful when he runs. I sometimes find myself imagining his form when I go running and try to emulate it. I don’t think  I do very well, but it’s fun to try.

I tried to take it easy with my breathing. I recognized about 1/2 way through that I was “efforting” too much, and using my lower legs to propel. I immediately let off and let myself fall. I could tell my PRE changed very quickly and I was able to pick up the pace just a touch by relaxing more. What a gift!

I might go for another run on Sunday. It’s feeling so good again, I am totally reinvigorated and hopeful and mindful of what’s been going on with my body and trying to honor it. I do notice, however, that my PRE is much elevated compared to several months ago… so I take it with a grain of salt because I know what I am capable of. I just have to get out there again!

Standing over a bowl of cereal and a Sudoku puzzle after my run, I rolled a frozen juice can alternately on each foot to help out my plantar fascia. It hasn’t bothered too much lately, but I certainly don’t want to nuture it.

Bon weekend folks!

The great thing about Asheville is that even though it gets hot during the day, the nights are cool and bring nice crisp mornings.

Sunday was like that here; it ended up in the 90s by the afternoon, but the morning was crisp. I didn’t have plans to go walk or run, but decided that it was a nice morning for it.

After doing my Body Looseners, I headed down to Carrier Park, the loop of flat land around the river. I paid close attention to my “C” Shape and walked down to the park and did one loop around ChiWalking. It felt great to be outdoors, in my body, listening and responding.

I took short strides, lead with my upper body, pumped my arms, and let my hips swing. I noticed I kept holding tension in my feet (plantar fasciitis isn’t totally gone yet), so I kept reminding myself to relax relax relax.

After one nice loop of walking around the park, I decided to see about a slow run. I transitioned from ChiWalking into ChiRunning very slowly, keeping my core engaged, lengthening from my crown and letting my body fall. I wanted to be careful of my knee, and so took very short strides, keeping a visualization of my head that my feet never landed in front of my hips.

I kept a slow pace and did Body Scans over and over again, transitioning from focus to focus as I moved along, depending on what part of my body needed attention. When my shoulders started to sway, I thought of my elbows really going rearward. When my breathing got a little more intense, I practiced Y’Chi. When my knee made a miniature twinge, I reengaged my core and let my pelvis get looser.

At the end of one loop, I transitioned back into ChiWalking and cooked down for a little while. I chose to stretch at the park instead of at home because I get anxious and go to quickly through my stretches when I do them at home. I feel great today, and have two golfballs rolling underneath my feet to keep my feet nice and relaxed and loose.

Here’s to going for a walk or run just for the pure pleasure of it. I realized yesterday that right now, I don’t have an event that I have to train for right now. It’s sort of a strange, liberating feeling. I can just do what I want when I want and can give myself permission to go short or long, easy or hard, with friends or without, with music or without… Hooray!

Hi all!

Seattle was great. The Expo was fantastic (great to see all of you runners there!) and the weather on race day was wonderful; sunny and fairly cool. Sarah and I were in a rearward corral and waited almost an hour to cross the start line, but we kept a positive attitude and enjoyed the many other walkers and runners and the beautiful sunshine.

It was a really lovely course, with enough hills but nothing too killer. Sarah and I walked, but threw in a couple of run “breaks” for good measure. I focused a lot on trying to keep my forward stride short, and the end of my stride long, extending rearward, aided by good pelvic rotation. I kept my core engaged the whole time (that afternoon my core muscles were sore!) and I think that helped alleviate stress on my knee. I kept my arms moving at a nice clip and we definitely made sure to slow down for a picture-op or to listen to the many great bands that were along the route.

The “C” Shape is something I constantly need to work on, and so I spent a great deal of time reestablishing my form during the race using the “C” Shape imagery: core engaged creates the bottom of the C, crown tall/chin down creates the top of the C.

About mile 11, the bottoms of my feet started to hurt. I did a Body Scan, and after a few minutes, was certain my form was in very good condition. I believe the amount of time on my feet the two days prior at the Expo, put some strain on my feet that I wasn’t adequately prepared for.  Sarah and I made it to the finish line in a respectable 3:07, where I soon propped up for a leg drain and ate a banana. We walked back to the hotel gingerly and spent the afternoon lounging around the hotel floor, stretching and rubbing our legs out.

The next several days I had some soreness in the bottoms of my feet (but no where else!), which extended to the lateral side of the top of my feet. Plantar fasciitis was trying to rear its nastiness on my feet. With a couple good doses of Advil, rolling golf balls under my feet and staying off my feet, the plantar seems to be almost back to normal. For those of you who have suffered from plantar fasciitis, I have the greatest sympathy and understanding. And for those of you who haven’t had it, do everything you can to avoid it. As Danny says, “There are a few things in this world I would not wish on my worst enemy.”

Thank you for supporting me along the way, folks. I appreciate it greatly. I’ll keep posting about my running and walking practices, which I am excited to keep developing and deepening. Ivan and I got a dog, too, so that’s sure to keep me motivated for daily walks and runs.

Here’s the keeping yourself centered with mindfulness and strength.