702 Walk the Talk

When a friend of mine asked a group of us girls to do the 702 Walk the Talk I admit I was a bit skeptical.  But the other girls all agreed and I certainly didn't want to be the only one left out...especially since I claim to be this so called runner! So we all happily payed the R100 for a good cause and signed up for the 15 km walk.  My first question - can we run? The answer - absolutely no running is allowed or you risk being disqualified. Well, when we entered many weeks ago, I wasn't really running anyway so I figured it would be a great opportunity to get some distance on the road and even if I wasn't running, walking is better than no exercise at all.  In fact, I've read somewhere that many runners use walking as part of their training.  So I looked forward to the race and got excited about being back out on the road in the early hours of a Sunday morning again.  When the alarm went off while it was still dark outside, it suddenly felt like I was back in running season - putting on my yellow race kit, lacing up my shoes and getting ready for a good morning - and it felt great... until we had to leave the warmth of the car, without our hoodies and tracksuit pants, and make our way to the start where the temperature was a supposed -1 degrees! The gun went off at 07:30 and instead of the usual pushing and shoving and general irritation trying to get past slow runners at the beginning of a running race, everyone set off at a very leisurely pace and it was only at about 5 km into the walk that I was warm enough to unfold my arms and actually use them for some extra speed.  When the sun eventually made an appearance the race turned out to be very enjoyable! Being the girls that we are, there wasn't a moments silence on the road and in between all the talking and giggling, the 15 km flew by!  After doing my first ever walking race, I've realised a few things.  Firstly, competitive walkers are pretty hard core! Sure, I can (could) run a marathon, but I felt muscles in my legs and bum today that I never even knew I had! Walking is completely different to running!  Secondly, while the social aspect of the walking was great for a change (I'm not big on too much talking while running!), I would choose running over walking any day of the week! And thirdly, I probably could have run that 15 km today.  My time would've been slow, but the important thing is, I think I'm almost ready to start racing again...and I can't wait!