Stroking the ground

Seven miles, my longest run since I clattered my left knee ice skating. Although it is still sore, I was pleased to complete half of a half marathon and at a minute per mile faster pace than I will have to do for the whole distance next Sunday.

My family are always telling me how heavy I am on my feet. Apparently they always know when it's me coming down the spiral staircase into our kitchen/dining room, because the staircase shakes.

So as my knee still isn't perfect, I decided during this morning's run to see if I could land a bit softer when I was running.

I have tried in the past to see if I could think of tiptoeing while I run, with little success.

This morning I came up with the thought of stroking the ground.

What was interesting was that when I tried to make my feet stroke the ground, it didn't really work, and even created stress and tightness in my shoulders.

What did work was imagining what it would be like for my whole body if my feet were simply stroking the ground, and also becoming aware of how close or far I was from that ideal.

Just being aware of where I was without trying to force anything was the most effective strategy.

It didn't work all the time but it was certainly the most effective approach I've found so far.