Woodrow Wilson HS Track.

I believe that in order to know your capacity — and your limits — you have to test yourself. You have to push yourself to see how far you can go. I set out this morning to walk a 5K. That's 3.1 miles and change. Let's call it 3.11 miles. 

My intention was to WALK the entire distance. Something in me, though, thought it might be a good idea to run the backstretch of each quarter-mile lap. That’s only a hundred yards, 300 feet. Times 12 or 13, that’s about a 1/4 of the total distance. In spite of having a minor twinge right below my right kneecap halfway into my second lap, I pressed on. And I’m glad I did.

Each successive lap was a bit faster than the one before. I never broke into an all-out sprint but the last couple runs were at a pretty good clip. For me, anyway. The only “pain” I had was in my feet. Until I get to a certain speed, I run flat-footed, and that is much more uncomfortable than running up on my toes. Nevertheless, my only real difficulty was keeping up a good walking pace with these short, stubby legs. 

Despite having some popping going on in my right knee when I’m just walking around, I’m doing much better than last week. What this experience has taught me is that I need to restrain my youthful exuberance so I don’t injure myself. Within those constraints, I still don’t know what I’m capable of and that’s a good feeling at 66 years of age.