run like a girl

Ran in the Arroyo this morning – back up to nine in the track shoes – went really slow just to be safe – no foot problems, yet. Focused on taking shorter strides and landing just in front of flat-footed – as in more towards the toe, but just slightly.

I’ve been watching people run a lot lately. I’ve always watched the runners, but recently I’ve been watching their foot landings. It seems like, in general, women have a more natural human stride – they tend to land on the mid-foot, whereas, men tend to land more heavily on their heels. I think it’s some kind of machismo thing. Men don’t like to prance around the neighborhood – they like to be very serious about running hard and getting it done. But I think they run themselves into a lot more injuries because of it. The women’s approach seems a lot more sustainable – and it doesn’t have to be that much slower – you just have to take faster steps and you can pretty much keep up. Actually, now that I think about it, arguably one of the most accomplished distance runners I know of runs like a girl so it must be good enough for me, too. So, that’s what I was trying to do today, run like a girl…