Slow Running public Races, overcoming Embarrassment about Awkwardness

 When I was a kid (fifth grade at Nova Elementary) and my class's p.e. instructor had us, as a group, run an extended course,, it would usually come down to a rqce. We'd heqd off campus toward the northern palm trees, which w'ed circle an thenreturn 'home. Brooke, as naurally talented as she was...and hopefully still is...would gracefully run away from the competition; she'd kick eveyone's ass if it were a Parkun!  i was a quick, short-distance sprinter with a long way to go on the endurance running side.  According to slow running (AF) advocate Martinus Evans, running competitively in public, under everyone's gaze, is an integral element of the activity.  This coming Saturday's Depot pqrkrun 5k is basically a publicly staged event.  So if i have any self-conscious issues involving feeling embarrassed over others observing my obviously flawed attempts at running for a sustained distance...forget the palms...looks like no one is in danger of confusing me with Brooke. Training for Saturday will necessarily involve me very lightly running downa dry stretch of qasphalt road,assuming i actually get a dry stretch of road with all this rain we've been having lately. My plan is this:after we've started the upcoming race for about a minute, I kick into slow AF running and see how long I can stand it...there ain't no shame in going back into walking mode, at least for a little while. I can also cut across the park's course to the car should I need to 'drop out' early...Still, unlike the case with our Florida Lottery, it should all be 'good fun'...

Slowness in Fitness Recovery Tied In with Cancer Prognosis Uncertainty

My path to return to my previous level of cardiovascular fitness, as evidenced by my participation and finishing times in a number of long-distance races, has recently been slow, irregular and halting...causing some discouragement.  On Depot parkrun 5K Saturday mornings, I gradually increased my number of laps finished and, on April 25th, managed to walk the whole course.  But I only got through a single lap of their last race, feeling a bit too tired to go the whole distance on that one.  A couple of hours ago today I walked...at a reasonable pace...around my own neighborhood block.  On the backstretch homeward I would deliberately start some very brief, slow jogging.  This helped me gain some confidence about running.  Sometime around sunset today I'd like to try some slow running across our back yard, and see how long i can manage the effort.  i realize that i am being daily reminded of my medical status, and that the struggle to make progress...or even overcome...treatments for this unfortunate brain cancer condition is fraught with concerns about their effectiveness, and possible side effects.  I know that it's probably a good idea to be bold with my athletic training, and one of these weeks I'm going to let go at a Parkrun event and try running for as long as I am able to manage it...maybe this coming Saturday will work that way: if I tire out too quickly, I should be able to hobble over to Melissa and the car.  I don't like this cancer role in life i've been consigned to for a while.  I do know that my life...and my eventual passing through and beyond it...are in my Lord's loving and powerful arms...He brought me in and He's carrying me through it all!  I'd still like to be able to frame my own Earthly future in terms of relations with Melissa, family and friends, and athletic and intellectual pursuits.  And I'm still interested in what's going on in the world!  I can't properly boast about tomorrow(read the Book of James Chapter 4), or about the future in a personal, worldly sense...only God has the power to determine it all.  So instead, to the degree that uncertainty still maintains a vital role on this Earth,,.  I'll hedge my comments about the future with 'if the Lord tarries", recognizing that His timing is the correct timing...

Some Perspective About My Past in 1971

 It's Friday morning on what used to be a typical weekday.  55 years ago I would have been showing up in the ninth grade at Nova in Davie as the weather outside was transitioning to a stench of chronic Everglades fire smog.  Lobo's debut hit Me and You and a Dog Named Boo was getting its radio overplay...soon I would tire of hearing it.  I was fourteen and a half, thoroughly tired of having to go to school for  a year. After school I temporarily stood up to a bully leaving the bus one afternoon and go t a little beat down in a fist fight)The esxperience taught me what contemptible ghouls the unwelcome onlookers were who were staring at me in a circle.  The next morning I received some sympathy from busstop classmates for what I went through, and that creep Arnone laid off me, never to be a friend. Later that summer during the early 10th grade I would return to school more serious in my studies.  On prime time sitcom television, some new series like All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore were starting their runs...my family became good fans.That fall "my" Miami Dolphins, coached by Don Shula, were good enough to make it to the Super Bowl...which they convincingly lost to Dallas. Overall, I was not a happy camper and tended to slip into daydreaming for much of my high school class time.  At home, my father would overdose me with talk of his dog racing betting strategies and philosophies. Still, I appreciated his efforts at weightlifting to the point of getting good at the bench press, pull-up, and standing press (I could lift up my own weight from the ground).   Growing up during this period was a confirmation of me not having an easy life. In my home neighborhood, my neighbors were raucous and out of control, loudly playing music deep into the night.  

Fresh New Day Lies Ahead, Possibility for new Routines

 This early morning I woke up between one and two, finally making it official with some fresh coffee and ten minutes of living room floor running in place.  Along this journey I missed about recovering my ability to cover 5K distances, most preferably through light jogging.  Will I be able to do any of this during the approaching Saturday morning?  Dunno, will have to see what comes.  My progress will need to come in small, humble steps without anything overtly ambitious.  Ultimately I want to return to a habitual routine of doing weekly 5K Parkruns, and maybe down the line an occasional race of longer distance...I'm talking Florida Track Club  or US Road Running.  A few weeks ago I was experiencing some difficulty staying vertical during shopping and medical visits, and asphalt-surface walking was markedly limited when I noticed how taxing lifting my feet and legs was during these attempts.  Anyway, this coming Saturday I'll see if I can't get myself up early enough, show up...and follow through!   in the meantime, growing a reasonable routine during the rest of the day, including watching what I eat, reading and studying, will determine my success level.  once the day gets going earnestly in a few hours, I'll have chances to take some personal initiative with my life.  That will include trying out the white Camry, to see if it runs properly, and maybe spin it a little down my neighborhood streets.  The plan includes intentionally avoiding the excessive media news/politics/war/opinion coverage plaguing us over the last few years and weeks...  

Good Early Morning at Home So Far

 It's now a little past five in the morning, I'm up, and my FitBit has so far given me a little over three hours of sleep credit.  Ran in place for 7 minutes, brewed coffee, and ate a couple of toaster strudels. unless we find ourselves going out today, I'm gonna be a homebody.  The news of this ongoing missile war is disconcerting and I'm tired of reaching news channels that dwell on it.  My hunger level is almost non-existent, so unless whether we go through a Dunkin' drive-through comes up from another in conversation, i'm planning to play it all cool.  Now back to my exercise and rest.  Oh, and Happy Rebecca Anniversary Day and Casimir Pulaski Day. So will I try taking out the white Camry for aa short neighborhood spin today? We'll see...

Miles:10

 Click HERE to view today's results. Like Melissa, we skipped this morning's Depot Parkrun 5K. exercised some at home in the living room and we walked around the neighborhood block.  Could have felt better, though. Maybe tomorrow will be good...

Dealing With Brain Cancer, ICE, Attitude Toward Trump

Many years ago I used to freely, and quite fluently, quickly type out blog articles using my offline word processing application program found on my desktop computer at home.  Lately, though, the whole process has deteriorated into  a frustrating grind, requiring lengthy revision. I look now at what’s going on with the current president and wonder how bad things will continue toget if i  don’t accord it a considerable amount of benign neglect. After all, he’s sure to step up immigration enforcement but now I'm concerned thar copters won’r soon be hovering over my street, ready to swoop meup into custody or murder me in th process, without proper due legal process or accountability.  Well, with this aggressive brain cancer diagnosis and super-duper oncologist doinglittle-to-no confirmed treatment so far and having no expressed plan, i might even bebetter off just going on about my business while keeping up with appointments and procedures.  And i include my daily exercise mileage in the blog, right?10 miles. Time to be relaxed,quiet and still...

Resuming home exercise, Resting More

ON this dreary winter weather day, Iwish you much enjoyment while avoiding its potential negative extremes.  yesterday I covered 12 virtual miles of home exercise.Try it out, on YouTube, Ralph's The Ageless Runner channel. His wisdom on the subject is well worth heeding. So I'll be doing more home exercise. God bless you...  

Lots   of mornings, if  not most of them, I get up pretty early according to the the world's standards and put on some regular flavored coffee to brew. Today so far I ran on the living room rug floor for 'my biased equivalent of eleven miles, helping me to gradually get back into some semblance of independent jogging that I hope can transfer well to Parkrun 5ks and neighborhood routines.  it would be nice to have  a regular slow-pqce jogging buddy, without all that tired old competitive ideology pushing for fast, punishing training and fast finishing times in races.     in other words, friend, just give me the course and your blessings to go with it.  i'd also like to gain confidence when I spill out my sometimes neqr-random thoughts on my good AlphqSmart portable word processor..     I can see myself getting real good at this before long.And then once I'v been typing and exerecising again a bit, I mIght want to take some little breaks. And then the're's the rest of the wide-open morning to look forward to, as well as the day beyond. Since my brain surgery almost 3 months ago, most of life's demands and pressures have lifted off me, AS this goes on, I'd like to feel freer to go on a sometimes lengthier rest breakperiodfrom time to time. Here's for a day like that...

 

About Bad Computer Keyboard, Running Training Plans

 In this world of expeted instant stimulation and gratification, i hope for the time in which I can just sit around somewhere and think, write and study...along with a nice little hot or decaf coffee.  I want to get back into regular journaling, where I type out my thoughts offline on my word processor and save them to computer without any need to be online.  Assuming I hopefully have10-15 years ahead of me to live on a decently mentally and physically active level, to start learning new language sounds like a good idea, as does getting back to long-distance running.  n participating in hal-marathons, along with training sessions focusing on my home and surrounding neighborhoods. I'm very tired of these defective old keyboards that don't properly translate my keying efforts to the screen or file. More to come, maybe. Today I exercised enough to pick I pick up1.0 virtual miles. Let's see what happens tomorrow...

Running a 5K Race as Immersion into Discomfort Zone

This morning I listened to a podcast by professional personal development coach Rob Dial that discussed people's comfort zones.  Dial, an advocate of seeking out discomfort as a growth mechanism, has stated that one' own comfort zone is where dreams come to die...he's not big on them, to put it lightly.  I tend to agree with this conclusion, although as each day wears on like now, when the late afternoon and early evening begin to make their presence felt, I feel a call on me to take things a little easier and not get strung out on crossing off a list of daily goals.  I haven't been given a promising diagnosis, but despite precautionary limitations after brain surgery, I am still in a pretty good state of physical fitness.  I even think I'm capable of running tomorrow morning's special Thanksgiving edition of Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K, treating it as a workout experience.  The goal is to get to a point in it when I feel I can get myself into a running groove that lasts the duration of the event.  This will be true discomfort, but my experiences at Depot Park have taught me that my tendency with 5K races is to get stronger and retain endurance as they progress, especially relative to others running or walking there.  I just walked around our .7 mile block with Melissa and intend to do some more rock-running watching Alex's YouTube posting of his 2022 NYC Marathon experience.  Despite breaks in the continuity of his run, with sections of the course left unposted, the video shows well the spirit of this event, and I appreciated Alex's upbeat attitude throughout.  I'm coming to appreciate more the relative value in my life of training privately, as opposed to measuring my running progress by how well I do in races that post results publicly.  I have two stated goals for tomorrow morning: (1) Show up, and (2) follow through...

New Run/Walk Strategy Developing

I was glancing out the window of my nearby Dunkin' Donuts here in far-northern Gainesville (see above pic), where I do much of my writing and studying, I'm contemplating a "sea change" regarding my future running and speed walking as I continue to plod on through the years. On my neighborhood run/walk combination training outings the last few months, I've grown accustomed to mixing them up.  Today I covered the 4.1-mile course by spending most of the time speed-walking with short, period intervals of easy-paced running.  I feel this may be the pattern for future races as well...especially the long distances ones of 10K (6.2 miles) and longer.  Speed-walk for six minutes and then run for four...and keep repeating the process until the race (or workout) is over.  I think this is a feasible training strategy for a future marathon in which I'm pushing to finish faster than six hours...there's one coming up in January. Today's workout was typical summertime discomfort, with an annoying combination of high temperature and humidity.  When conditions get cooler and dryer, it should be more workable to extend my training to longer distances and see how my body reacts to it all.  What I want is a viable level of fitness with which I can confidently enter any "classic" long distance event (10K through marathon length) and finish at a reasonable time...or in the case of the marathon...before they close down the course and stop timing entrants.  The elitists at the Florida Track Club have already stated that six hours is the deadline for finishing their upcoming marathon, after which runners are on their own and will not be furnished with posted finishing times.  A shoddy attitude, I think, considering the money laid out to enter the race, but obstinate, disagreeable people are everywhere and I would be better served focusing on my own attitude and behavior in response.  Let's try out this new alternation of walking and running and see where it gets me, elitists or not.  On the surface, it seems to make sense.  With this new structure I'm walking more than half the time while I'm running more than half the distance...

My Designed Running Loop Courses, Then and Now

My old running block (~3 miles) from my late teen years in Davie, Florida is the standard I use to evaluate the various training courses I've designed, especially those within the past twenty years.  These days my running (often combined with walking) takes place on asphalt road surfaces, while back then practically the entire loop was off-road, on the grass.  For a south Florida locale like Davie...where I went to school...running on grass was totally fine since there wasn't the prevalence of holes in the ground to trip up on like there are up here in northern Florida. I like seeing where I'm stepping...in my own back yard I have to be careful where I plant my feet.  But hitting a hard surface still takes its toll on legs' soft tissue, and I have to take care not to over-train.  That's one big reason I've taken to increasing my speed-walking emphasis...less taxing on the joints. My current standard 3.3-mile neighborhood loop has me passing many, many houses while I have to be attentive...even during low-traffic times of the day...to residents and visitors pulling in and out of driveways.  And then there's often a creepy vehicle or another that drives around me and then just stops in the road, as if the driver is some kind of stalker or Zimmerman-type neighborhood vigilante.  Pedestrians are truly the vulnerable class in this world loaded with suspicion and violently-inclined folks with weapons.  One of my favorite books from some fifteen years ago is Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes.  In it he describes his late-night early morning long-distance training runs...one time he ran thirty miles around San Francisco in his underwear!  I can see myself doing something like that...and then get arrested and have my mug shot plastered over my local news station's screen: no thanks.  No, there are definitely times I want to stay off the road, and one of these is when it's dark outside. As for multiple laps on my loop, fifty years ago in March 1975 I once ran five laps on my old Davie loop, amassing nearly 15 total miles.  In Gainesville, unless I'm running or walking around the block (.7 mile), I don't do multiple laps.  Instead I have extensions designed to the course that create the desired distance.  When I ran 26.6 miles on January 15, 2011 I had a pretty complex running route that took me into some interesting territory.  I haven't ventured any distance near that far in the last few years, unless you're talking the marathon I completed last November along the eastern end of the Hawthorne trail.  But training? I keep it measured and consistent, with lots of time for rest and recovery.  Still, I'd like to revisit that old Davie trail from time to time...

Little Victories in My Recovery

I'm plodding on ahead with my recovery from the prostatectomy surgery on March 6, savoring little victories as I go along.  For example, although I'm not supposed to run for a few weeks as this would interfere with my healing from the operation, I can walk...I'm encouraged to do so. Still, I'm not trying to speed-walk like I was doing before entering the hospital.  No, but I still try to maintain at least a moderate pace although if I'm walking with others, I'm only too happy to follow their pace.  This morning I decided to go out into my home neighborhood and walk my 3.3 mile loop course.  It was 71 degrees with 61% humidity...not quite as cool and dry as I would have liked, but I realize that as spring progresses it's just going to get worse.  I had no problem finishing the course (at 54:18) and never felt any pain or loss of energy.  It was fun to get out in the sun and go down all the familiar streets, greeting others as I passed by them.  Little victories, I think, are indeed important in a recovery like the one I'm experiencing...

Not So Enthusiastic About Coming High-Speed Internet and AI

My own neighborhood, the adjacent one, and other parts of Gainesville are currently undergoing a transformation of sorts, with 8G optical fiber cable being laid down into the ground.  The process seems to involve digging up a lot of residents' yards...hopefully, with us our cable runs behind the back fence and will necessitate no such intrusion...but that's "hopefully".  The trucks, workers and orange cones have been interfering with traffic, though, regardless where they're digging.  The idea is that 8G will be oh-so-better than what we have now, speeding things up on the Internet monumentally.  I'm not so sure that's such a great thing, though, since the more connected and "fast" we get in our digital revolution, the dumber people seem to be getting (I cite the recent election results).  And with the advent and exponential development of artificial intelligence, I see folks abandoning what little independent thought and mental training they have to the all-knowing AI gods.  Hey, I use AI, but I'm not like the dude on the commercial leaning back asleep in his office who clicks on his AI app to write a top-notch, detailed report for him...but this admittedly funny commercial I fear is destined to become part of the not-so-funny mainstream.  I'm seeing a lot of Facebook posts that look as if AI "entities" wrote them...when are we going to get to the point when "they" begin, on their own, to support certain politicians and political creeds?  Or is this already going on?  As you can see, I'm not skipping so gleefully into the coming brave new world of super-high speed Internet and pervasive, nanny-like artificial intelligence.  On the other hand, I'm hedging my bets: if you're an AI reading this, I'm really a nice guy who's on your side...

Speed-Walked 5 Miles Through Neighborhood This Morning

For the third time in the past five Thursday mornings, I got up early and speed-walked 5 miles through my Gainesville, Florida Northwood Pines subdivision and the adjacent one, Northwood Oaks. It started out a little foggy, warm (74 degrees) and very muggy (99% humidity)...the sky stayed cloudy throughout my walk, in which I consciously exerted myself but probably could have pushed it a little more, in reflection.  The roads seemed emptier, with fewer vehicles then before although a few fellow walkers...and one intrepid runner...passed by me.  I completed the walk, which I began around 6:50, with a time of 1:08:18...putting it right there with my other two: at least I'm consistent if not improving.  Still, I don't feel the kind of intensity that running brings. Nevertheless, the continuity of getting myself out of bed and doing this is a victory, to be sure.  When walking, I try to mimic how I see race walkers move, vigorously moving my arms and trying to land my forward leg straight and bring it that way under me while attempting some forward hip rotation...I wonder whether the judges at those events would cite me for some walking rules infractions or just laugh at me. Walking very fast does look kind of ridiculous, and it's an exercise in humility for me to speed-walk in public, or even better in a race that features runners far ahead of me. My treadmill walking pace is far faster than my road walking...I'm currently working on a 10:31/mile pace at the gym. I walked today listening to a shuffle of songs by the British rock group Queen, thanks to Amazon Music...my favorites from them are Another One Bites the Dust, Bicycle Race, Killer Queen, Keep Yourself Alive and the wonderful collaboration with David Bowie, Under Pressure...

Adapting to Extreme Heat by Turning to Running at Night

This morning I brought my Honda Civic over to the auto maintenance shop to get routine work on it, including an oil change...the "percentage" on my dashboard reading had gotten pretty low.  When I came around to pick it up this afternoon, I got two "100" readings on my dashboard: one, the oil was restored to "100%"...I guess that's good, right?  But the other was the outside temperature reading: 100 degrees...ugh!  And that's what it's been today, excruciatingly hot here in Gainesville. At 7 PM it had only gone down to 95, and for someone like me who likes to go out this time of day to run and walk in the neighborhood for a reasonably long distance, that's just not going to work.  So I considered my resources and how I could adapt myself to the situation at hand.  About fourteen years ago I read a book by ultra-marathon runner Dean Karnazes titled Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner.  In this sports autobiography, he described how he would regularly run the streets of his home California town and the outlying roads deep into the nighttime hours to train for his ultra-long races.  I thought that was pretty cool, but considering how crazy/wacko some people can be with their paranoia and suspicion, the idea of me doing something like that just didn't seem very wise.  Fortunately, a few years ago we got a nice privacy fence put around our back yard, and with some solar powered lights at strategic spots it can be adequately lit up into the night to provide a venue for back-and-forth running and speed-walking.  Then I bought a simple digital tally counter I could wear as a ring while working out and realized that I had everything in place to do my own all-night running if I so desired.  Since it was so hot today and I have somewhere I need to be tomorrow morning, I decided to wait until the sun sets this evening and the temperature has abated and go into my backyard and see how much back-and-forth ground I can cover...I already have it all measured out and with each successive lap I just hit my tally counter.  I still like going around my neighborhood, but this can be a good makeshift substitute if it works out with the bathroom always nearby while I can still listen to my Amazon Music while running and walking...

My 5 Mile Neighborhood Speed-Walk This Morning

This morning I set out on another five mile speed-walk through my north Gainesville subdivision and the adjacent one, the same course I did two weeks ago.  This time around I started earlier, with cooler temperature (average 73) and very high humidity (97%).  But with fast walking, as opposed to running...even slowly...the weather extremes don't seem to affect me that much, and it was perfectly fine this morning as I enjoyed deep shadows before the sun rose too high in the clear skies.  I started out at about 7:00 and finished with a time of 1:09:05...relatively little perspiration or energy loss from the workout.  My limitation with walking at a brisk (for me) pace isn't the distance or weather it seems, but rather my ability to attain a faster speed...even if only for a few seconds.  I used heavier shoes on these road outings, and on the treadmill at my gym attain a faster pace (now I'm working on 5.6 mph, or 10:42/mile).  I think if I can move more efficiently...like I see race walkers do...then I could become a pretty decent seniors athlete with walking.  Today's experience still was rewarding for getting up and getting out there, although I admit to being a bit annoyed at several different neighbors along my route, parked along the road in front of their homes, who would open their car or pickup truck doors wide into the street and then just walk off.  I wouldn't do that, if only for the sake of preserving my car door.  Oh well, listening for the duration of my walk to an Amazon Music shuffle of songs by the excellent Canadian alternative rock band Metric helped to alleviate my frustration...you know, they're a very energizing group to exercise to and Emily Haines is one of the greatest singers around...

My Sunrise 11.2 Mile Run/Walk

Seeing how the public schools in my county let out for the summer last Friday, I anticipated, with pleasure, a lack of kids and school buses on the streets early this morning as I decided to go then on my distance run/walk, alternating over my pre-planned neighborhood route between two minutes of moderate running and three of fast walking.  Conditions were better than my Memorial Day morning run a week ago.  For one, I started out early, just at sunrise.  And then the weather was more amenable, with a pretty steady average 70 degrees and 81% humidity throughout.  I felt kind of sore afterwards, but that was expected.  For this workout I listened to Amazon Music's shuffle of songs by Electric Light Orchestra, one of my favorite bands from the seventies and early eighties.  This week and the previous one have seen me in a support/care-giver role as Melissa has undergone surgery and is now, thankfully, recovering well...but gradually...from it.  Please keep your thoughts and prayers in mind for her as we pass through this medical/health storm...thankfully all of the post-op news so far is good...  

My Memorial Day 10.4 Mile Run/Walk Around Neighborhood

Before I discuss my long-distance run/walk this morning, I'd like to express my deepest respect and appreciation for all of the Americans who died defending this nation while serving in uniform during times of conflict.  They are treasures, each and every one, and should never be forgotten.  Around my personally-designed 10.4-mile course that runs through my own residential subdivision and the adjacent ones, I saw a number of homes with many little American flags in their front yards to express their support as well.  I decided to do my run this morning instead of Sunday at twilight because, well, we had company over yesterday and I knew I'd be off from work today.  But although late afternoon/early evening temperatures of late have been pretty high, creeping up into the 90s here in northern Florida, the humidity has been relatively low and once the sun has settled low enough in the western sky there's been plenty of shade as well.  This morning all was different and, other than the lower temperatures, much worse.  At the start of my training outing at 8:30, it was 69 degrees with 99% humidity and by the end it was 81 with 73% humidity...and very little cloud cover or shade.  I alternated 3 minutes of brisk walking with 2 of moderate running, and decided to add the walkway along NW 53rd Avenue between 34 St and 43rd.  My finishing time was 2 hours 5 minutes 23 seconds for the 10.4 miles, reasonable but the humidity combined with the heat took its toll on me although I carried Gatorade with me to drink along the way.  During today's activity I listened, via Amazon Music, to a mix of songs by Radiohead, probably my favorite band of the last 20-odd years.  I seem to take better to hotter afternoons with lower humidity than with warm mornings combined with high humidity...especially factoring in the added shade enjoyed later on in the day.  So we'll see how things go as spring blends into summer.  My recovery from today's run/walk seems to be going right on track...

Speed-Walked 5 Miles Through Neighborhood This Morning

Today, as planned, I did a neighborhood walk this morning in purely fast-walk mode, no running. But I did extend my planned distance of 3.3 miles to 5 instead...it worked out well.  The temperature was 82 with a 56% humidity...nice conditions for this time of year.  The roads were mostly clear...other than the trash and recyclables pickup and numerous lawn and repair vehicles, that is.  I walked as I would have on one of my weekly Depot Park runs, never tiring or feeling winded.  Yet there is still some constraint on my walking speed that I'm sure will diminish as I do it more and develop the appropriate muscles and hip mobility.  I finished with a time of 1:08:14 and walked the distance to a shuffled mix of Nirvana songs provided by Amazon Music.  One big difference between my neighborhood outings and the more "official" races: when training informally near my house I use heavier Nike Air Monarch athletic shoes while with the races I wear a much lighter Brooks model...both are several years old and probably could use replacing. I thoroughly enjoyed today's walk, and as a general rule plan to do such walks mid-week when circumstances permit...