What struck me as I watched the highlights was how th two bouys run......always on their toes. It is as if their heels don't touch the ground. This reminded me of a conversation I had with a finance director who was also a triathlete. I had asked him how his legs coped with the punishment and hesaid he ran on his toes. That was something I could not relate to, but I remember later trying to run on my toes and finding it incredibly difficult to do for me at least.
My running style is a more obvious heel-to-toe style. My heel makes contact first and my foot rolls forward onto my toes that then push me off into the next stride. I have to say that as a youngster I was a passable 220yds and 440yds runner. I think this was largely down to having long legs and having gone through a huge growth spurt that took me from 4'10" and 8 stone to over 6'0" and around 11 stone. Sorry, but I am that old that all my memories are in imperial measures.
As I grew older I acquired the heavier frame that seems to have been part of my family for generations and increasingly excelled at rugby, primarily as a mobile lock forward. I played plenty of rugby up to England trials, being pretty fit for those days, but never really enjoying running. At on training camp after a summer break I was greeted with a 3000yd run. You can imagine how much I enjoyed that!!!
I have tried running and jogging at various times since then, either as part of a rowing regime or more generally as get fit/lose weight endeavours. I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed the activity. I look at those that undertake marathons or just pound the streets and can admire their commitment and appreciate that they find enjoyment in it, but it has eluded me. That said I can say the same about gym work, where I seem to lack the endorphins that lift and carry others.
Looking at the Brownlee brothers and how they live on their toes I am thinking that my half jokes about not being built for running may be more than I realise. It could well explain another area of difficulty that has afflicted me all my life and frustarted my wife for the married part of my life and that is my inability to dance. Of course a lack of rhyhtm is not a great start, but have two heavy feet is a killer. I did try ballroom dancing while at university and remember being told to be in my toes. Needless to say that was not easily done and after a few months I accepted that dancing alone to roack music was probably my limit. I am probably the archetypal "Dad dancing at a weddding".
Enough, I think. This post was intended to capture the moment I "got" about being "on one's toes" and realised that it is an experience I am unlikely to enjoy in anything other than a contrived fashion. I can and will admire those that do and in doing so appear to glide across a running surface - maybe in return they can admire some of the things I am good at?
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