The Long Walk and Couch to 5K….my way

The Long Walk and Couch to 5K….my way

Back in high school I read a book by Stephen King called 'The Long Walk'. He wrote it under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It's a story about a kid that enters a lottery where 100 boys are chosen to walk 'The Long Walk'. The boys are required to walk a pace of at least 4 miles per hour. If they go below 4 miles per hour they get warned, after so many warnings they are shot. The walk never stops, there is never any rest, it goes day and night for over 100 miles until only one person is left walking. The winner of the walk gets what ever he wants for the rest of his life. It was a good book and for some reason it is one of the few that I read in high school that has continually replayed itself in my mind. I still have dreams/nightmares about it at least once a month. Gotta love Stephen King.

I had to tell you that because this book has been on my mind a lot as I have committed myself to walking a 5K in October. I know I can't run it. It's not a matter of mind over matter. My body is just not physically ready for that, especially my knee and my ankles. I had surgery on my knee last year and it's just been the last few weeks that it doesn't hurt to go up and down stairs. I know it will improve as I continue to lose weight. But right now, I just haven't lost enough weight to be at that point. It will happen in time.

So this is my strategy for the 5K. Jen gave me a link to download podcasts for each week of the Couch to 5K program. Thank you Jen!! I am going to modify the C25K program for walking. When the guy gives the cue to run then I am going to walk 4 miles per hour (again….'The Long Walk'), when it's time to walk then I will walk at 3-3.5 miles per hour. I am starting this at the gym on the treadmill so I can get a good feel for what 4 miles an hour feels like before I take it outside. At 4 miles per hour it will take me 45 minutes to finish the 5K, which is, from what I have read, respectable for a first time. I'm good with that. So when the 30 minute podcast is done I keep going to make the full 45 minutes. Yesterday I just listened to my own music and timed myself with the timer on the treadmill. When I get outside I will start the podcast over so I get the timing right. I think I can do this everyday instead of my normal walking routine…where I'm not running I don't think I will need to take a day off in between…does that sound right?

I can do this. I need to do this! I will turn 40 a week before the 5K. My prize for the rest of my life will be knowing that I did it...that at 40 I am in better shape than I was at 20 or 30. And that I will at least have a chance to live longer to be with my family…and that will be the best prize!!