Chi Running

It was cold and windy this morning and I had to drag myself out of bed to run but I'm so glad I did! I saw on Meetup a Marathon Training Clinic where I could learn the Chi method of running, and I figured it would be nice to learn a method of running that might make it a little easier/ less painless. Being 39 and training for a marathon is a completely different beast then doing one at 28 because I feel EVERYTHING.

I met up with the marathon group at Mission Bay where I met Ozzie Gontang, who has run the Marathon Training Clinic for the past 35 years. To say he was knowledgeable about running is an understatement! The people that were part of the group went on their 12 mile runs, and I had the very lucky opportunity to work one on one with Ozzie to learn about chi running. What a treat! It was like everything I did he picked up on and had something new to teach me. Really remarkable.

Here are a few things that I learned- what he taught me about Chi and running in general was very eye opening.

First, which I loved the most, was visualizing a keyhole on top of my head, and a string attached to it- and a hawk is holding it up. From then on in, I just had to picture the hawk keeping me up so I don't fall.

With Chi running, it was more of a ball of the foot, then heel, then ball. It feels much more light and effortless then heel- ball of foot. He showed me runners as they ran by as examples of this, and we listened to how the foot fell- you could hear the "slap" as the heel went first.

He told me to visualize my ankle as a garage door's ball bearing, going up my leg. It's not so much the leg going far forward, it is more like a pulley.

Run from the center, like the Karate kid, instead of having my weight go so far to the left or right, which would also help with my hip issues.

The Chi running seemed more of a shuffle then anything, yet when we went back to measure our wet footprints on the pavement they were REALLY far apart (about a FAR lunge apart), because one foot strike was so much further then the other- took longer. This was amazing!

He said to really BREATH when running, and gave me a great breathing mantra- "My" (breath 4) "NAME" (breath 4) "IS" (breath 4) "KELLY!" (breath four).

To go faster, keep the same cadence but have the foot strikes go quicker and lean forward more.

Instead of looking down when running, look forward at the horizon line and you will peel 10 minutes off your marathon running time.

Stop and stretch during the marathon whenever you need to, otherwise the last 6 miles will feel like the death march.

When your achilles heel is tight, it usually means your calf is tight, so stretch it/ work into it by sitting cross legged and letting your knee work the calf muscle.

I can't thank Ozzie enough for all the amazing information and the time he spent with me! It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with him, and I felt great the entire run! Yay!