Walk, Don't Run

Haven't seen one like this, have you?
(Courtesy Rakka @ Flickr)

So, when is a marathon run not a marathon run? I don't mean this as a trick question, though it might sound like one. For more folk than you'd think, taking walk breaks during a marathon run would disqualify that performance from counting as a "true, real" marathon run. Yes, some might answer the question "when is a marathon run not a marathon run" with "anytime you dont' run the whole distance." While this might sound a bit elitist or haughty, in the mind of the timelapserunner this is true, too. Yes, guilty as charged. I entertain this thought every few weeks as I continue to use the Galloway run/walk/run technique in weekly training and on weekend long runs. Why is this? Why do I think this way?


That's hard to say. Maybe I've heard the criticism often enough to entertain it myself, or maybe I just have the same thinking pattern that other humans have about such things. As I've catalogued here before, I made an unusually rational decision by opting for the Galloway method. Having had a long history of minor, training stifling injuries, I decided to go with a training plan that was designed to accommodate that history, and a plan designed to maximize the probability of a first-time (and older-than-average) marathoner completing the event without being laid up for days or longer. But I have to say it's taken it's toll on my ego, choosing this strategy has. I, too, want to be able to say "I ran a marathon" and not have to cross my fingers behind my back or suffer pangs of guilt.

I have decided to stick with this method, come hell of high water (to throw one more overworked cliche into the works). The results during training so far have been good - at least along the lines of remaining injury-free. I'm sure that the active isolated stretching routine is also helping with that, but success thus far is still success. I'm not sure I would have believed that - as I near my 65th birthday - I have just completed a 17 mile training run (yes, run/walk/run) with no major negative consequences. That's 3-1/2 hours on the road without stopping, most of the distance covered in the running mode.

Still the doubt lingers on. Will those 26.2 miles in January really count as the timelapserunner having actually run a marathon? You bet it will. Not long ago, Galloway reminded his readers (and advocates) that ALL of the participants in the modern Olympiad's first marathon in 1896 walked significant portions of the race, according to an original source. Nowhere in the record books does it have any asterisk tagging Olympic marathon runners as having "* walked a portion of the race." Nothing in the rule book prohibits walking either. And nothing will prevent the timelapserunner from carrying out his plan to race this event while inserting important walk breaks - though, to be honest, I suspect that nagging little doubt will continue to try to put a damper on what portends to be a truly memorable accomplishment.

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Sticking with the old music themes of the last few posts, we offer this really old one up for your enjoyment: