I was working with a client this morning who has had a little flare up of the dreaded plantar fasciitis.

We practiced running will soft feet, landing midfoot, circular foot motion and hip rotation. In order to prevent a flare up of PF, it’s really helpful to focus on not pushing off with your toes, not holding any tension in your lower legs.

In order to really feel what it’s like to keep your lower legs completely relaxed, it’s easier to stand and begin walking, practicing the heel lift: Stand with correct posture, and imagine your psoas muscle (the deep, vertical muscle that runs between your pelvis and your middle spine) doing the work of lifting your leg. It’s a very strong muscle and can lift up your feet all day long without getting overused.

Walking around on the track this morning, my client had a moment of “ah-hah!” practicing the simple exercise of lifting his feet off the ground: he was really Body Sensing his ability to let his lower legs relax completely and rely on his psoas muscle to do the work. I explained that the more he can practice that all day every day: walking around the house, in the grocery, to the mailbox, even up and down stairs, the more easily it will become for him. Then, when he goes out to run, the ankle lift will be like second nature.

For those of you who have bouts of plantar fasciitis:

• Use tennis balls on the plantar tendon, and really push down hard with your foot to stretch and passively activate that tendon.
• Don’t walk barefoot at all! In fact, if you can wear sandals in the shower and as soon as you rise in the morning, that helps enormously.
• Keep walking and running, if you can stand it. PF gets worse the less you move and the more you sit still, because it gets stiff.
• Ice your tendon after exercising: frozen veggie bags or Dixie cups of frozen ice work well
• Stay Positive! You’ll get through it, you just have to listen to your body!

It was very fun to help my friend and client have this ah-hah! moment of recognizing a completely relaxed and passive lower leg by practicing ChiWalking: it will help him recover from PF and it will also help as he continues to run, recognizing the difference between toeing off VS lifting the ankle.

Despite the lack of blog posts, I have been running regularly for the last month…

Over Christmas, I met my sister and parents on a Mexican beach, where my sister and I ran a few times together on the soft sand. Then, over the New Year holiday, Ivan and the dog and I were on the cold beach in South Carolina… and then this week, I’ve had the pleasure of running in snow and cold in Asheville. (Running in the sand and snow are great ways to check out your footprint and watch for heel-striking or toeing-off.)

Today was the 1-year anniversary of my 1st half-marathon. It was a beautiful day for a run, and while I was running, was having very happy and fond memories of my first race in Houston, and how wonderful it felt to cross the finish line, feel triupmpant and have a big grin across my face…all thanks to ChiRunning. And congratulations to my running partners from that race, Kristin and Richard, for finishing the race again today… way to go!

Shelly, my coworker, and I ran together in Bent Creek with our dogs this morning for 5 blissful miles. It was a slightly foggy, slightly cold, great day for a run. We headed out around 10am, and discovered that there was still snow on that side of town (and ice!)… The icy ground was isolated to only a few areas of our run, interspersed with wet patches of gravelly path. We had a great time with a very mellow starting pace, staying at a steady and consistent speed for quite awhile. We focused on our Columns, making sure our pelvises were tucked and our crowns tall.

I have found that when I get cold, my posture goes to crumbles. Having someone else to watch helped me stay focused on my own posture, too, and helped me stay tall and give my lungs plenty of room to breathe deeply.

A few times I caught my arms creeping upward and tightening. I took a water bottle and was carrying the dog leash, which made it a little harder to stay at 90 degrees, but it was a good focus to practice. I imagined that for every arm-swing, my knuckles brushed my hip bones — right around where my pockets might be located on a pair of jeans.

Shelly did well, and we both felt so grateful for ChiRunning; just a few years ago, neither of us felt like we could have run any distance at all without despising every step. What a contrary story we can tell now!

Next week, we plan to run a local “Hot Chocolate 10k” in Asheville. If you’re running it, we’ll see you out there!

As readers, you might get bored of how ecstatic I am after running. It’s not always that way, but recently, I have been truly euphoric after each running workout.

Why? Because I love to move my body, to be in control of how my feet touch the ground, where my eyes lead me, how my breath rate increases, how my heart pumps blood so loyally to my extremities.

I wish there was a way I could shout from the rooftops that “There is a way to move pain-free, injury-free and joyfully. Step right this way, and I’ll show you how!”

This morning I headed out around 7am with Oliver to do our normal park loop, about 30 minutes. Before we left, I did a full course of Body Looseners and really paid attention to my core, keeping it engaged the whole time I did the Looseners. I made a decision before I left to go as slowly as I needed to in order to feel GREAT at the end of my run, like I hadn’t even gone running at all.

And I succeeded! While I was running, I was just focusing on staying calm, breathing, and smiling. I let Oliver off the leash and he was absolutely hysterical, causing me to laugh, as he tore around the frosted grass and splashed in shallow frozen water puddles.

I actually didn’t focus on one particular thing, but just let my body be happy, let it move freely and relaxed. I don’t quite know how to explain how I felt; I’ve never felt that way before when running. It was incredible. I really almost felt like I wasn’t running at all. I simply Body Sensed being at peace.

Now I know what people mean when the write to Danny and Katherine about their success with running and say, “I ran for an hour and couldn’t figure out when I was going to get tired! I didn’t feel like I was doing anything at all!”

There really is something to be said about joyful movement. There’s a fine line between feeling like you’re doing nothing and doing nothing; I think that fine line is joy.

In the past week, I’ve gone running three times. Lately, that’s a lot for me! I’ve been making the time to get outdoors and enjoy the crisp fall mornings.

Sunday I went running for 3.8 miles with the dog, surprising myself, and the dog as well. We had great weather that morning and going running sounded like just the perfect thing to do. I was focused only on not stepping past my hip and landing midfoot. I felt great the entire run, and couldn’t believe when I got home to map it that we’d run that far; I felt like I’d barely done anything!

Yesterday morning, I took Oliver the dog and went running at the park near my house, where we happened upon a Great Blue Heron standing in a puddle of water, the remains of three days of solid rain. Oliver stopped dead in his tracks and simply watched in awe, as did I. That was a nice way to start the morning.

Then, today, I went running with 5 other Certified Instructors; this weekend is an Instructors-only event here in Asheville, to work on our form, our teaching, and our business practices… I took them to one of my favorite little forest areas that Danny introduced me to. My focuses were landing midfoot, and on the trails, keeping my lower legs as limp as possible. I can distinctly remember, not too long ago, when the idea of trail running with other people would have been absolutely out of the question for me. What progress, thanks entirely to ChiRunning.

It was a glorious morning for ChiRunning, and when we finished, I felt so inspired and refreshed. I usually run solo, so running with others was very nice. I highly encourage any of you who usually run solo to try to find the right time and place and partner(s), and have a bit of a social time. It was so much fun to go running together, watching our forms, commenting, speeding up and slowing down, laughing and enjoying moving our bodies together, painlessly and joyfully.

Thanks everyone!

I wasn’t planning to go running today, but the weather was beckoning, and I found myself without anything pressing to do (!), so I headed out into the sunshine for a 25 minute jaunt ’round the neighborhood.

I got a new pair of 790s in the mail earlier this week, and took them out for their inaugural run. They’re pearly white, and upon my return, weren’t anymore (the rain and the dirt around here create some beautiful mud).

I started off very slowly, listening to my body and getting used to the sensation of movement. I focused on two things during this run:

• Keeping my hands even extensions of my arms. I have this strange habit of torquing my hands downward when I run, and so I want to work on that. It’s an easy “bad” habit to slip into.

I looked at my shadow (the sun!!) to see if my wrists were torqued, and tried to Body Sense what it’s like to really keep my wrists neutral. I really had to look down quite a bit to ensure that my wrists weren’t torquing down again as I was running. It’ll be a practice that I’ll be able to correct, but will take diligence.

• Landing mid-foot. With new shoes, I want to make the effort to really watch the wear on them, wear them only when running and see how the tread wears. (My other shoes are showing an embarrassing tendency to wear on the outer heel.)

I have long legs. That’s my excuse for the heel wear on my other shoes. I wish I believed it, but it’s not a good enough excuse. What I am going to experiment with as I run with the new shoes is to really think about getting my heels high, knees down. At the end of my stride, if my heels have come far enough up, and my legs are properly swinging to the rear, my foot should naturally strike in the fleshy middle part. I’ll keep you posted. Already, on this first run, the only place I see any wear is unfortunately at the same place on the shoe as my older pairs of running shoes show… Sigh.

Those were two strong enough and important enough focuses to keep me going today as I was running. There were lots of other people outdoors, and it’s always inspiring to see people out with the animals and kids when the weather is good.

Trust you all enjoyed a nice Sunday, wherever it was; in North Carolina in the sunny and dry day, or in Colorado, with 3 feet of snow and cold!

As you’ll see from the photo on the November newsletter, Asheville is ablaze with color. As the leaves fall to the ground, they bring the color to our feet… combine the leaves with rain, however, and you get a somewhat treacherous path.

We took Oliver for a hike yesterday in the drizzling rain. We went up the Blue Ridge Parkway to a nice area of the mountains. We encountered other dogs along the way, which is always fun to watch: they tear up and down the path, apparently oblivious to rocks, black mud, slippery leaves and steep drop offs. Ah, the joys of being on the trail!

I discovered something about shoes: I tend to wear the NB 790s all the time when I hike or run. Yesterday, because of the rain, I chose to wear a different pair, a cross between a hiking boot and a running shoe. They’re very comfortable, but have a much thicker bottom than the 790s. I found myself moving much more slowly than I normally do, somewhat terrified of falling down the slippery slopes. To counteract the “negative” effect my shoes were having on my mobility, I focused on a few simple things:

• Small steps, making sure to land on a solid piece of ground, with as much of my foot as possible.
• Keeping my core engaged. The more I kept my core engaged, the more I was able to maintain balance and center my hips over my feet, to prevent slipping.
• Kept my eyes alternately looking up and forward (Y’chi) and keeping my eyes on the ground, watching where my feet should go.
• Limp lower legs: it sounds difficult to do on a slippery surfaces, but the more I kept my core engaged, and trusted my balance and foot placement, the less I needed to effort with my legs. So especially when traveling uphills, I just tried to imagine that my leg muscles weren’t engaging. Like if I had a pair of magical muscle-watching goggles, I wouldn’t see any shift in effort in my leg muscles as we walked uphill along rocks and roots and leaves.

Of course, I also had to keep my knees a bit soft as Oliver loves to tear around the trail and I didn’t want to get clipped and end up on my rear-end… What fun to watch him! It’s so inspiring to see my dog run, as Danny has mentioned about running with Mei Ling. There is so much joy that comes from moving freely.

Go out there and move happily and freely. There are very few other feelings quite as liberating.

Oliver trodding happily on the leaf-covered ground.

So, I had the pleasure of coming to NYC to assist Danny teach a workshop on Saturday in Manhattan. A great group of people enjoyed the day with us, and we were all thankful the weather held off and it didn’t rain!

I also had the pleasure of going for a run with Danny in Central Park this morning. After spending all day listening to his lessons yesterday, my head was full of ideas and things to focus on.

The weather was quite chilly and wet as we headed to the park. We were staying on the Upper East Side, and entered the park around 79th, took a tour up around the lake, then weaved our way down to Columbus Circle and then back up to 79th. Not sure how far we went, but it was a full hour and felt very good.

It’s fun to go running with Danny because it really teaches me to be accountable and make sure I’m really in form. I was focusing, as always, on keeping more lower abs engaged and kepping my crown nice and high. Those two focuses almost always do the ”trick” for me and really keep me in my body.

My right knee was  bit stiff starting out, so I kept focusing on not stepping past my hip and really allowing my pelvis to rotate behind me as I was running. After we got about 15 minutes into the run, my knee had loosened up.

We ran along the gravel paths most of the way around, which is more fun and scenic that running on the asphalt, and a bit more protected from the rain! As we turned around the south end of the park and headed north, we were facing a pretty signinficant headwind. By that time, my legs were starting to talk to me, and Danny had a great suggestion: “When the wind hits you like that, really let it take your legs out from you and blow backwards. Just imagine that the wind is blowing your legs behind you.”

The second I got that focus into my head, my ease of running improved immediately. I kept leaning into the wind, kept my core strong, and simply let the wind take my legs behind me.

It was a fun run, and compared to the last time Danny and I ran in Central Park together, I am pleased to say that I have learned a lot about myself, about running, and how to enjoy it all.

Saturday was gorgeous, despite all the rain.  (Seriously, people. If you don’t live in Asheville, I can’t possibly explain the amount of rain we’ve had this year. It’s incredible, and I realized that it’s suddenly autumn and I don’t feel like I really had a true summer.)

We had a great group at the workshop, and spent the day teaching the basics of the ChiRunning technique. The Pool Running Drill is so fun to teach, and I think it brings people out of their heads and into their bodies. If you have the new version of the ChiRunning book, check out this drill on page 100.  Also, the group found the Core Strengthening Exercise helpful, too, on page 74. Thanks to all our Workshop participants. It was great fun!

I have been going out for brief jogs with Oliver and trying to talk him as often as possible. Every time I go out with him, I prepare by getting really clear in my head that I am centered and in control of him and myself. I get my bones aligned and always do the Body Looseners. They’re so helpful and relaxing at the same time. I have felt very strong when I go out walking, and although I can tell my cardio-aerobic capacity is a bit less than it used to be, I am in my body and that feels great.

Recently, I have really been working on my chin down and pelvic rotation. I feel like my core is pretty well engaged most of the time when I am moving, and want to work a bit more on pelvic rotation. With all the hills around Asheville, the downhills are a great place to practice “sticky feet” while walking or running and letting my pelvis rotate and be relaxed.

I took Oliver for a solid 45 minute walk this morning. (That’s my cover for saying that I went for a 45 minute walk this morning.)

It was great. The mornings have been fresh and crisp around here lately and it’s such a nice time to walk. Plus, it makes me feel better knowing I have walked my little buddy a good distance, and have worked my own heart, too.

It’s funny; when I walk at a brisk pace, lately I have felt more aware of my body than I do when I run. I can’t quite explain what I mean, but it’s almost like my body talks to me more when I walk for exercise. I think it’s a function of running more for exercise than walking and that I’m honestly probably more cognizant runner than I am walker.

What a thing to think about! I walk all the time, every day, but when I walk for exercise, with the intention of raising my heart rate for a period of time, the whole scene changes for me. I am able to Gather chi by enjoying the vista and the sounds of birds and water running. I feel less able to issue that chi back through my body back into nature.

I still need to work a lot on my core engagement. And my upper body posture and alignment. Often I catch myself slouching (even as I sit and write this now) and constantly have to remind myself to get tall again.

So when I walk I want to think more about leading with my shoulders and really letting my legs lead. I am going to try using a visualization when I walk for the next week or so (whether it be to the printer or around the park) that my shoulders and eyes are what lead my body rather than my legs (the second one is Y’chi). So when I get out of my chair next (in 20 minutes when I leave, for example) I will imagine that my shoulders are the driving force behind my movement, rather than my legs.

I’ll let you know how it goes: core engaged, leading with the shoulders and eyes, legs relaxed and cooperating with the floor/road.

The crazy rainy and muggy weather has made for some seriously sweaty running workouts. This morning Oliver and I ran about 2.5 miles together, which included about 1/3 mile walking to warm up/cool down.

I’ve been really practicing keeping my feet loose when I walk, around the office or at the grocery or wherever. I’ve also really been trying to work on my posture and make sure I’m not slouching or jutting my chin out.

I’ve felt quite good and proper posture really makes me more alert when I write emails or sit during meetings or drive in the car. It’s all about this daily effort to practice focuses so that when I go run it’s easier to access those Body Senses.

Running today was great. It wasn’t a lot of mileage, but that doesn’t matter to me so much right now. I’m just happy to be healthy, to get out and be active, to feel my heart pumping and to spend time with my dog. I am trying to focus on these things in alternating intervals: tall crown/ level pelvis, no shoulder movement (elbows to the rear), and not stepping past my hip (allowing pelvic rotation).  They’re a nice combination of things that I’ve found really help me avoid knee pain and maintain a healthy stride length.

I suppose finding a race to train for would be a good idea, but I’ve been really working on shorter distances to keep working on my form. I’ve also been working with other people on their form, which is always so satisfying and full of “ah-hah” moments, both for me and for clients.

Hope you are all enjoying these later days of summer, and for those of you are back-to-school, don’t forget to take a moment for yourself.