Hurrying

[darkemeralds]

I've taken up running.

The urge came over me one day a month or so ago. It's "running" in the sense of breaking gravity by having both feet off the ground at once--albeit by a millimeter, for a millisecond. Somewhere between a jog and a shuffle. A juffle.

At first it was four steps juffling, four walking, repeat, and then be uncomfortable. Now I can juffle for a whole city block at a time, then walk a bit, and juffle another block. No special gear required, no athletic critique invoked--I just look like I'm running for a bus.

I told my healthcare practitioner (who was very encouraging, by the way), that I'm training for the Olympic Hurrying event. My brother the artist made me a logo, q.v.

Here's the amazing thing: even just a couple of minutes' hurrying clears my mind, elevates my mood, energizes me for an hour, makes achy bits stop aching, and improves my eyesight (really!).

Also, my bus-catching stats have improved dramatically.

Comments

[silk-knickers.livejournal.com]

There actually is an Olympic Walking event, with rules about always having to have a part of one foot on the ground, and such. I was watching it during the Beijing Olympics, very bemused but knowing that I wouldn't have even been able to cross the finish line in that event.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I remember that movie "Walk Don't Run," featuring Timothy's dad Jim Hutton. And Cary Grant in his underwear, and the Olympic race-walking competitions.

As I look into this "hurrying" thing, I find that there is, in fact, something quite particular about breaking gravity that isn't accomplished by fast or hard walking. I don't fully understand it yet, but I can say from vast experience of long, arduous, uphill, fast and generally serious walking that this running thing, however mild-mannered, feels qualitatively different.

Long way of saying, seems like it's not ONLY about heart-rate and aerobics. There's something else, metabolic or something, that feels qualitatively different.