The whole idea of goal setting is that somewhere along the road things might not work as well as you’d hoped or planned so you must, as DH would say, adapt and overcome. This is something that applies to every facet of our lives. Staying static accomplishes nothing, especially if things aren’t working in your favor.

Needless to say, I’ve had to revise my marathon goal. About a month ago my right knee started giving me grief. Just a little at first, but it’s gradually worsened to the point where my short runs (10 miles) are painful and as you can guess, not much fun. I won’t even tell you what my long runs do to the old pain threshold.

This is not good. I like my knees and I like them functional and I’m really not big on the whole pain thing either.

However, there is this goal of the marathon. SO, enter my adaptation of the goal to Race Walking it instead of running it.

Race Walking. Yup. You got it.

I’ve discovered it’s quite the sport and I’ve found that I can go, Go, GO! without any pain in my knees. This is me grinning because I’ve also discovered it’s not easy. I must admit that when running I don’t put much effort into my form (perhaps the reason for the injury?), but when race walking, I *must* think to keep my knee straight, *must* think to keep my shoulders down, *must* think to push off with my back foot, because otherwise I tend to look a little like a floppy chicken making its way down the road. When one has proper form, one glides. Much more preferable.

They tell me it gets easier, but so far I’ve found I can’t walk with music because it’s too distracting and my form suffers. I don’t want to have bad form. In fact, I want to have superior form. Judging by the new muscles I’m finding, I’m on my way. Until then, I’ll allow myself the occasion floppy chicken, but the rest of the way, I’m gliding!

Watch me now!