The Walk of Shame.

I hear this all the time, “I had to stop and walk.  It was embarrassing.”   Why do we feel shame in walking?

I used to feel shame in having to stop and walk.  I hated to stop.  In my mind, walking meant giving up.  It was mainly an ego thing.  It hurt my pride and if there were someone else running by me, I would make sure they didn’t see me walking.  But the truth is, there is no shame in walking.  Some days you have it and some days you don’t.  There are times that, despite what you do, the body doesn’t respond.  So, lets squash the idea that walking equals failure.

Have you ever watched race walking?  These athletes are race walking:

It’s one of those obscure sports that you might watch on ESPN 8, the Ocho.  It comes on right after dodgeball and before lawnmower racing.  But did you know that it’s an Olympic event?  Elite walkers, from all over the world, come together every four years to see who is the best and fastest… walker.  So if walking is a world class sport, how can we be ashamed of doing it?

Some runners deliberately schedule walk breaks during their training runs and some even do it during a race.

Walking has it’s benefits.  It’s easier on the joints.  It keeps the heart rate where it needs to be.  It helps with the mental challenges of long runs.

Trainer and running coach, Jeff Galloway, has developed a run-walk-run plan that helps people complete marathons.  His success rate for this method is 98%.  Now how can we argue with that?

Let’s swallow our pride and not beat ourselves up about having to walk.  After all, the goal is to finish not break speed records.