Speed Walking

This weekend Shannon, Dan and I did a 10k called the Nike Plus Human Race. It is a race that was hosted all over the world with people running in Italy, Paris, South Africa, Mexico, New York etc. Since Nike headquarters are in Portland, of course they hosted a race here! All the cities ran on the same day and then our times were uploaded to a Nike website to view how you placed in the world. 521,970 people ran and I placed 106,605 - sweet. Anyway, it was an awesome race. Nike puts on a fabulous show! From the goody bags and race day t-shirts to free socks, inspiring videos, post race concerts, even Greg Oden was there. It was a good course and a lot of fun. This definitly makes the list of my top 5 favorite races!




Point of this post - Speed Walkers. While I was standing on the side of the finish line watching people cross I noticed quite a bit of speed walkers.
Speed walking - walking very fast without breaking into a jog or run. Arms swing in pace with the stride, and one foot is on the ground at all times.

HOW DO THEY DO IT?! I watched these people speed walk even down to the last 100 meters. How do they not break into a dead sprint, arms flailing shouting 'I'm free to have both feet off the ground if I'd like!' I know I would and I would probably do a cart wheel over the finish line. And have you ever tried to speed walk? It's hard! Some speed walkers walk faster than people run and it's an Olympic event. I know it has great benefits for your body - and probably not as hard on your joints as running - but I still don't get it. I guess I don't have enough self control to keep one foot on the ground at all times or enough patients to learn. Such an interesting sport. Walk on... haha, like rock on, but walk on...
get it?

Quick update on my hair:
Her name was Jodi, she was really nice and exceptionally cute. She patiently listened to me go on for 15 minutes about how I wanted it cut and colored. The darker color in my hair turned out perfect, I think the lighter color is a little too light. Definitly lighter than what I am used to. The cut is a little bit longer than I would have liked, but the shape is good and I am sure she was nervous about what I would do if it was TOO short. I can't decide if I should go back and have her tone the lighter peices darker or embrace the lighter look. She did tell me to call her if it was too light. She was very knowledgeable and she really did do a good job. So, she's a keeper as my Oregon stylist.