The Mile 5 Incident

Friday, Was just supposed to be a nice and slow , easy as you go, 12 mile endurance training day. I planned to walk from the San Francisco Ferry Building to the foot of the Golden Gate bridge and back—which I did.

Did I mention that I had promised myself that this would be strictly a slow-long-day?
Well, the walk started off fine , but when I got to the 5 mile mark ( somewhere near Crissy Field) , the temptation became overwhelming. I couldn’t help myself any longer and I broke out into a full blown racewalking tempo that continued for a FULL mile !!! ( God..I’m so addicted)
It wasn’t that fast mind you ( maybe in the 10-11 range) , but just the fact that I was able to keep this momentum up for a good ten minutes is totally amazing. Never in my life have I ever run, jogged or racewalked continuously …….that far.
I was passing people up left and right and I felt so confident about my racewalking form that I didnt care what they might be thinking ( probably thought I was a dork).

I honestly don’ t know where I got the lung power to go that far. I just remember trying to control my breathing the best I could and was determined not to stop to catch my breath until I absolutely had to.The conditions must have been just right for me to take off the way I did. My breathing seemed to be better than usual ( even though I did use the inhaler a few times along the way) and this crazy long racewalking sprint occurred about an hour into the walk , so my body was probably loose and warmed up. It seemed that the further I went, the more I didn’t want to stop…….. It felt phenomenal. Damn! I wish I had good lungs. I know I could be a great racewalker.

Anyway, during the remainder of the walk I was able to get a few more short spurts in, but nothing like the “mile 5 incident . I think it took a lot out of me, because by the end of the day my legs were sore, especially the front of my thighs( which leads me to believe that I was racewalking in good form) .

Ironically, Thanks to another Bay Area “Spare-the-Air -Day”, I was able to do this walk for free ( a $10.00 saving!).
You see, when they declare a STA day here in the bay area, most if not all public transit is free for the day. And while the air quality that triggered this alert was really unhealthy where I live, the air quality in the city of San Francisco was fine.