Running Gently

Grete Waitz has been a hero of mine since I was a teenager. Waitz was a pioneer in the world of women’s marathon running. She held the women’s world record in the marathon, bettered her own record on multiple occasion, all while winning the New York City Marathon nine times.

I was lucky to meet Waitz once. I think I just stared in awe until I blurted out awkwardly “I love you!” and snapped her photo while she beamed her friendly smile back.

I love her smile and gracefulness, especially as she held onto them while running incredible speeds and obliterating records. I love that she began her career as a track athlete during her teenager years and just kept running, racing and loving it throughout her life. I love that during her first marathon, where she had no clue how long the distance actually was, she just kept running at a torrid pace, sure the finish line had to be somewhere. When she finished in a world record time she took off her shoes and threw them at her coach (also her husband) and said “I’ll never do that again!” Of course, she went on to run and win many more.

She was tiny but tough as nails. And she was wise. I’ve read a lot of her writings about running. One thing I will always recall is a phrase used by her in one of her training logs: gentle run. As in, “Tuesday a.m. – 45 min gentle run.” I love that term. It doesn’t say slow run or easy run, it says gentle run, which is a very different term.

To me, running gently means running by feel and being in-tune with my body. During hard training sessions, I shut out what my body is telling me so that I can push through to higher fitness levels. Obviously, Grete did that as well, or she wouldn’t have had the amazing results that she did. However, she also saw the benefits of listening to her body on gentle days so she could recover.

Right now, I am slowly feeling my way back from an injury, so all of my runs are gentle. I’ve been running gently for three weeks and am feeling stronger, so soon I will add in some not-so-gentle running, but I will always keep gentle running as a key ingredient in my training schedule.

A few tips on running gently:

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• Park your ego – no “racing” other runners who pass you (ugh – I totally did that the other day)
• Don’t think about upcoming races while running – that always leads to a faster pace
• Outside is better than treadmills. I find it really hard to keep a gentle pace on a treadmill
• Know either the approximate time or distance you’re going for, but never both
• Stop and walk if you feel like it
• Pick it up if you feel like it
• Don’t wear sleek racing clothes or trainers which make you feel like you should be running fast
• Run for as long as you’re enjoying it. Stop as soon as you’re not

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“I don’t think I would have been such a good runner if I hadn’t enjoyed it.” – Grete Waitz (1953-2011)