Hi Lisa,
The money I spent to take a private lesson from you was some of the best money I’ve ever spent. I knew I was learning about ChiWalking as we were working and practicing but I did not truly know how much until I started walking again. We had out of town company right after my lesson so I did not walk again for several days. When I did go walking I did my “regular” walking and then practiced my ChiWalking. I was frustrated because I was slower doing Chi. I had made the goal to be faster doing PF Chang’s than I had been during Disneyland Half Marathon so I decided that I would concentrate on ChiWalking after PF Chang’s. I would go back to my “regular walking”. The next day I started out but discovered that my feet were not striking with the heel first but mid-foot first. I stopped and started again, trying to achieve a heel strike – I could not do it unless I concentrated very hard. I gave up on the idea of heel striking and went with the midfoot. I concentrated on improving my pace, not worrying about my alignment or my arm movements. I had naturally shortened my stride. My average pace before my lesson was 15 – 16 minute/mile. My pace has been steadily getting faster. I did 10 miles with a 14:45/mile pace. My son, who did Disneyland Half Marathon in 1:20, went with me twice during the Christmas Holidays. He commented that I was moving pretty fast for someone who was walking, In fact, he said I was faster than some runners he has observed. That made me feel really great.
I am not not supposed to run because of 3 knee surgeries and spinal stenosis and my husband is very firm in wanting me to not run. I did a small amount of running during the Disneyland Half Marathon and did confess this to my husband, I really wanted to finish within the time limit. After one of my recent walks I was reading off my lap times – 14:10, 13:39, 13:24, 13:34 etc to my husband. My husband accused me of running but I had only walked. He was amazed. Even though I am not doing the Chi posture, it has helped me when I have experienced pain during my walks. One day when I was doing a long walk my back started to give me a fair amount of pain. I thought I might have to stop but decided to try getting my body in Chi alignment (reverse crunch). My pain went away. It came back when I starting to lean so I did the reverse crunch and the pain went away again. Another time, I noticed my left ankle was bothering me so I stopped and did the ankle rotations to relax my ankles. When I started up again my ankles were loose and did not hurt at all.
You are an amazing instructor and I truly thank you. You and ChiWalking have made a tremendous difference in my walking.
Linda S
