"Grownups Can't Run"

Today was not a scheduled run day.  In fact, in the "way" I've been following, both Saturdays and Sundays are days off.  One reason is because I usually cross train with Kung Fu on Saturday.

But we went to the park today and  I had my Teva's on.

I haven't stopped thinking about the way of setting my feet down and picking them up that I "found" in the Target parking lot yesterday (wrote about in yesterday's post).

I just had an urge to try it out.  I wasn't in my running clothes, but I just kicked off my Tevas and set out to try it. I just had to see if it was going to work.  Never mind that I haven't run barefoot two days  in a row yet.  I just needed to run.

And it was working!   I found the step.  I ran all around the lake.  I ran up a hill. I was going in really tiny steps it felt like, but somehow faster.  The weight came out of my feet and transferred to a higher place in my legs.  Hard to describe, but more in the front of the thighs and rear.

My feet were lifting up.  The heel came up first, then mid, until just the forefoot with toes bent finally peeled off.  My feet were very relaxed.  I didn't feel weight on my feet.  They felt kind of like flippers.  And I was not pushing off.  My knees were bent, and coming out forward slightly, but not level enough to hold and flip a pancake.  Actually, if there were pancakes they would have been thrown kind of forward and up at kind of a 45 degree angle, not straight up.

I was breathing harder.  It was because I was working harder but in a new way.  I could tell that this new way just had to get stronger and I'd be okay.

Most of my life I had to force myself to go out and run, even though I liked it.  When I very first started running years ago, I used to get a really sick feeling before I ran each time.  I used to feel scared.  Scared of how it was going to hurt.

Later on, I managed to develop an enjoyment of running and no longer experienced the dread feeling.

But today was the first time I just felt the urge to just run.  I just looked at that lake and wanted to run.  I wanted to see if I could get it right.  I didn't think that it was hard, or that it hurt or anything.  I just enjoyed it.

That was a little bit new.  And I wasn't wearing running clothes.  I was just running in my clothes.  I mean, they were casual, and actually the shirt was a running shirt -- one designed by my sister for her running club at work that she sent me.

That's what it was like when I was a kid.  I would just see a field and feel like running across it.  It was fun.

Running is fun.

When you're walking down the street with a bunch of moms and kids, the kids all run to the corner.  The adults always say "Don't run!"

Why do they say "don't run?"

There is this really hilarious children's book called Grown-Ups Get to Do All the Driving.  The book makes these simple statements, along with some funny illustrations, from a child's point of view about grownups.  They were all funny, but some tinged with a little sadness.  One of them was "Grownups can't run."

When I read that one I became determined that I would be one grownup who would be seen running.

But I just thought about it a lot.  From a kids point of view, with the moms on the sidewalk behind them saying "Don't run" it must seem like grownups don't run.

Today I felt like I came really close to being a kid again -- sort of.